[frereubu]

I see what you're getting at, but the Russian proverb that Reagan made famous - "Trust, but verify" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify - raises a wry smile each time I read it because it's such an obvious oxymoron. You either trust, or you verify.

There's an earlier version attributed to Mohammed - "Trust in God. But tie your camel first." - so the sentiment has been around for a while.

It feels like it's just a way of reducing cognitive dissonance, which is useful I suppose, but I wish people wouldn't use it because it allows a feeling of resolution without a real resolution of the tension between trusting and verifying.

[bananamerica]

I don’t think neither of these sayings are in themselves contradictory. The first could be translated as “I trust your work ethics, but I also know that your human nature will lead you to perform better under supervision”. The second basically says: “God has my back on a number of things, but She also expects me to do my part”.

[tootie]

I work in services, so for us it's like "Trust, but write explicit assumptions and disclaimers into the contract". It's like when you commit to paying $2M for a custom piece of software, you expect to pay the fee and get the product. Not spy on your vendor then sue for your money back. But you have to prepared to protect your investment.

[sorokod]

And before that God helps those who help themselves

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helps_those_who_help_the...