Top 100 Stephen R. Covey Quotes

#1. Sincere apologies make deposits; repeated apologies interpreted as insincere make withdrawals. And the quality of the relationship reflects it.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #11030
#2. It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy - very busy - without being very effective.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #47299
#3. It simply makes no difference how good the rhetoric is or even how good the intentions are; if there is little or no trust, there is no foundation for permanent success.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #47937
#4. Independent people can get what they want through

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #60106
#5. It comes from within.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #105300
#6. He (Anwar Sadat) records that he was almost loathe to leave his prison cell because it was there that he realized that real success is success with self. It's not in having things, but in having mastery, having victory over self.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #107886
#7. man you might like to take her out. If you were

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #113264
#8. The person who doesn't read is no better off than the person who can't read.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #200587
#9. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #202165
#10. Effective people lead their lives and manage their relationships around principles; ineffective people attempt to manage their time around priorities and their tasks around goals. Think effectiveness with people; efficiency with things.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #273486
#11. If you don't let a teacher know what level you are
by asking a question, or revealing your ignorance
you will not learn or grow

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #278820
#12. Happiness - in part at least - the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice waht we want for what we want eventually

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #318730
#13. There is no effectiveness without discipline, and there is no discipline without character.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #320701
#14. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #325786
#15. Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success. If I were physically dependent - paralyzed or disabled or limited

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #329520
#16. The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #340454
#17. To judge someone before understanding that person is a form of human rejection and feeds upon itself. It intensifies personal insecurities, necessitating more judgment (prejudice) and less understanding. The processes continue in this vicious cycle.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #344907
#18. We are free to choose our actions, ... but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #372159
#19. While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #400168
#20. I think the most significant work we'll do in our whole life, in our whole world is done within the four walls of our home.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #401939
#21. But borrowing strength builds weakness.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #421911
#22. what is the truth about the inner motivations, character, and ambition of those who hold power?

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #423586
#23. understanding. As one successful parent said about raising children, "Treat them all the same by treating them differently." Attending to the Little Things

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #430027
#24. It is much more ennobling to the human spirit to let people judge themselves than to judge them. And

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #447479
#25. My behavior is a product of my own conscious choices based on principles, rather than a product of my conditions, based on feelings.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #453240
#26. habit as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #461828
#27. For those filled with regret, perhaps the most needful exercise of proactivity is to realize that past mistakes are also out there in the Circle of Concern. We can't recall them, we can't undo them, we can't control the consequences that came as a result.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #480626
#28. Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #483961
#29. It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #491247
#30. If I am emotionally interdependent, I derive a great sense of worth within myself, but I also recognize the need for love, for giving, and for receiving love from others.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #549074
#31. Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values, therefore, value principles!

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #550942
#32. Churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who get so busy in church worship and projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs that sourround them, contradicting the very precepts they profess to believe deeply.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #553351
#33. Where we stand depends on where we sit.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #573391
#34. But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #574665
#35. Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #587078
#36. Becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #613888
#37. Animals do not possess this ability. We call it "self-awareness" or the ability to think about your very thought process.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #648143
#38. People are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren't getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope ... with all of their might.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #661947
#39. I realized that Sandra and I had been getting social mileage out of our children's good behavior, and, in our eyes, this son simply didn't measure up.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #674089
#40. All the well-meaning advice in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if we're not even addressing the real problem.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #693476
#41. The reflection of the current social paradigm tells us we are largely determined by conditioning and conditions.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #716167
#42. Show me someone who is humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her through or around these challenges, and I'll show you supreme power of choice.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #724127
#43. Only basic goodness gives life to technique. To

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #739167
#44. Don't compromise, when you can synergize.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #794364
#45. How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #803835
#46. One of the most inspirational people I have ever known is Viktor Frankl,

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #812456
#47. As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #820126
#48. Principles are the simplicity on the far side of complexity.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #825556
#49. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #849664
#50. The PC principle is to always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #889697
#51. Most believe that the key to influence is communication - getting your point across clearly and speaking persuasively. In fact, if you think about it, don't you find that, while others are speaking to you, instead of really listening to understand, you are often busy preparing your response?

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #892834
#52. You can't change the fruit without changing the root.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #960351
#53. You can't be successful with other people if you haven't paid the price of success with yourself.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #976789
#54. Statement - and then to bring that sense of mission, of purpose, to your

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1001355
#55. Organizations are composed of people, and the more effective those people, the stronger the organization.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1007502
#56. Is it logical that two people can disagree and that both can be right? It's not logical: it's psychological. And it's very real.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1021890
#57. We are either the second creation of our own proactive design, or we are the second creation of other people's agendas, of circumstances, or of past habits.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1029727
#58. Out of his private victories, public victories began to come.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1035226
#59. more important than how fast you're going, is where you're headed.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1054038
#60. Each of us guard a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1059512
#61. The message sent to one is truly sent to all because everyone is a "one," and they know that if you treat one that way, all it takes is a change of circumstances and you'll treat them that way, too.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1119955
#62. Character Ethic as the foundation of success - things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1129319
#63. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are--or, as we are conditioned to see it.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1139945
#64. The purpose of teaching is learning and learning is changed behavior.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1157402
#65. If I were emotionally dependent, my sense of worth and security would come from your opinion of me.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1200280
#66. Changing a planning tool or a method won't create significant change in the results we're getting in our lives - although the implied promise is that it will. It's not a matter of controlling things more, better, or faster; it's questioning the whole assumption of control.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1205036
#67. What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did it on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1225856
#68. They [Nazi captors]had more liberty, more options to choose from in their environment; but he [Viktor Frankl] had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1232089
#69. What is the one activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your personal life? What is the one activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your professional or work life?

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1242261
#70. Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1263452
#71. responsibility - "response-ability" - the ability to choose your response.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1265142
#72. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values - carefully thought about, selected and internalized values.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1318136
#73. While we must learn from good examples and keep always in mind the bigger goal, we must compare ourselves only with ourselves. We can't focus or base our happiness on another's progress; we can focus only on our own.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1330894
#74. The thing I learned is that you don't invent your mission, you detect it. You uncover it, as it were.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1338356
#75. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1341379
#76. The way we see the problem is the problem.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1347036
#77. So you have to weigh that consequence against the other consequence and make a choice. I know if it were me, I'd choose to go on the tennis trip. But never say you have to do anything.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1347762
#78. The organization does not have to be at the mercy of the environment; it can take the initiative to accomplish the shared values and purposes of the individuals involved.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1379704
#79. Family itself is a "we" experience, a "we" mentality. And admittedly, the movement from "me" to "we" - from independence to interdependence - is perhaps one of the most challenging and difficult aspects of family life.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1380563
#80. People who exercise their freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived.' [That is, until] they are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1380859
#81. When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion
that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet
therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1407961
#82. Interdependence is a far more mature, more advanced concept. If I am physically interdependent, I am self-reliant and capable, but I also realize that you and I working together can accomplish far more than, even at my best, I could accomplish alone.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1408121
#83. Through imagination, we can visualize the uncredited worlds of potential that lie within us.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1414092
#84. I've learned that once children gain a sense of real possession, they share very naturally, freely, and spontaneously.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1417200
#85. In the words of William George Jordan, "Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil - the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be." T

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1447484
#86. To Retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1464600
#87. If you wait to be acted upon, you will be acted upon. And growth and opportunity consequences attend either road.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1514498
#88. There might be exceptions - and if so, you might rethink their employment - but few people really want to be mediocre. Most of your team members want to make a valued contribution - to find purpose in their work.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1530775
#89. Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1567107
#90. Systems. They are self-evident and can easily be validated by any individual. It's almost as if these principles or natural laws are part of the human condition, part of the human consciousness, part of the human conscience. They seem to exist in all human beings, regardless of social conditioning

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1586532
#91. We hear a lot about identity theft when someone takes your wallet and pretends to be you and uses your credit cards. But the more serious identity theft is to get swallowed up in other people's definition of you.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1632419
#92. Self awareness gives us ultimate human freedom.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1636965
#93. You must be open and influenceable; then ironically, you will also discover an increase in your own power to influence

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1655291
#94. No matter how long we've walked life's pathway to mediocrity, we can always choose to switch paths. Always. It's never too late. We can find our voice.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1703805
#95. The core of any family is what is changeless, what is going to be there--shared vision and values.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1720840
#96. You have to water the flowers you want to grow.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1761348
#97. We have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take the time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1791980
#98. In the midst of the most degrading circumstances imaginable, Frankl used the human endowment of self-awareness to discover a fundamental principle about the nature of man: Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1817933
#99. When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1864292
#100. Interdependence is a choice only independent people can make

Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey Quotes #1873349

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