diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 13ef9eef..9c2ae2c6 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -103,6 +103,13 @@ Flags
 ^^^^^
 Most of the flags mirror the arguments understood by ``requests.request``. See ``http -h`` for more details::
 
+    usage: http [-h] [--version] [--json | --form] [--traceback]
+                       [--pretty | --ugly]
+                       [--print OUTPUT_OPTIONS | --verbose | --headers | --body]
+                       [--style STYLE] [--auth AUTH] [--verify VERIFY]
+                       [--proxy PROXY] [--allow-redirects] [--timeout TIMEOUT]
+                       METHOD URL [items [items ...]]
+
     HTTPie - cURL for humans.
 
     positional arguments:
@@ -147,10 +154,11 @@ Most of the flags mirror the arguments understood by ``requests.request``. See `
                             monokai, murphy, native, pastie, perldoc, solarized,
                             tango, trac, vim, vs. Defaults to solarized.
       --auth AUTH, -a AUTH  username:password
-      --verify VERIFY       Set to "yes" to check the host's SSL certificate. You
-                            can also pass the path to a CA_BUNDLE file for private
-                            certs. You can also set the REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE
-                            environment variable.
+      --verify VERIFY       Set to "no" to skip checking the host's SSL
+                            certificate. You can also pass the path to a CA_BUNDLE
+                            file for private certs. You can also set the
+                            REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE environment variable. Defaults to
+                            "yes".
       --proxy PROXY         String mapping protocol to the URL of the proxy (e.g.
                             http:foo.bar:3128).
       --allow-redirects     Set this flag if full redirects are allowed (e.g. re-
diff --git a/httpie/__main__.py b/httpie/__main__.py
index ec3c5cd0..1064f46a 100644
--- a/httpie/__main__.py
+++ b/httpie/__main__.py
@@ -131,13 +131,6 @@ def main(args=None,
     elif not files and 'Content-Type' not in headers:
         headers['Content-Type'] = TYPE_FORM
 
-    if args.verify == 'yes':
-        verify = True
-    elif args.verify == 'no':
-        verify = False
-    else:
-        verify = args.verify
-
     # Fire the request.
     try:
         response = requests.request(
@@ -145,7 +138,7 @@ def main(args=None,
             url=args.url if '://' in args.url else 'http://%s' % args.url,
             headers=headers,
             data=data,
-            verify=verify,
+            verify={'yes': True, 'no': False}.get(args.verify, args.verify),
             timeout=args.timeout,
             auth=(args.auth.key, args.auth.value) if args.auth else None,
             proxies=dict((p.key, p.value) for p in args.proxy),
diff --git a/httpie/cli.py b/httpie/cli.py
index 70830f89..e907b212 100644
--- a/httpie/cli.py
+++ b/httpie/cli.py
@@ -216,12 +216,13 @@ parser.add_argument(
     type=KeyValueType(SEP_COMMON)
 )
 parser.add_argument(
-    '--verify',
+    '--verify', default='yes',
     help=_('''
-        Set to "yes" to check the host\'s SSL certificate.
+        Set to "no" to skip checking the host\'s SSL certificate.
         You can also pass the  path to a CA_BUNDLE
         file for private certs. You can also set
         the REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE  environment variable.
+        Defaults to "yes".
     ''')
 )
 parser.add_argument(