Stephen M.r. Covey Quotes

#1. Some people say they have 20 years experience, when in reality, they have 1 year's experience repeated 20 times. (Stephen M R Covey to Richie Norton when Norton asked if he was too young to train older executives for Covey.)

Richie Norton

#2. We can't live without eating, but we don't live to eat.

Stephen R. Covey

#3. I define discipline as the ability to make + keep promises and to honor commitments.

Stephen Covey

#4. To listen with empathy is the most important human skill.

Stephen Covey

#5. Contrary to what most people believe, trust is not some soft, illusive quality that you either have or you don't; rather, trust is a pragmatic, tangible, actionable asset that you can create.

Stephen Covey

#6. The key to the 99 is the one. Or, put another way, the key to the group is the one individual. Think about the one, talk to the one, regard the one, serve the one. If you are sincere and constant, you will discover that gradually your influence with the many will be magnified.

Stephen Covey

#7. The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.

Stephen Covey

#8. Some people achieve the top of the ladder and only then realise it was standing against the wrong wall.

Stephen Covey

#9. Trust is central to an economy that works.

Stephen Covey

#10. We are free to choose our actions, based on our knowledge of correct principles, but we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions. Remember, If you pick up one end of the stick, you pick up the other.

Stephen R. Covey

#11. Highly proactive people don't blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice.

Stephen Covey

#12. Independent people can get what they want through

Stephen R. Covey

#13. You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into.

Stephen Covey

#14. You can't have the fruits without the roots.

Stephen Covey

#15. Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.

Stephen Covey

#16. Our lives are the results of our choices. To blame and accuse other people, the environment, or other extrinsic factors is to choose to empower those things to control us.

Stephen Covey

#17. The key to success is dedication to life-long learning.

Stephen Covey

#18. I've set and met my career goals and I'm having tremendous professional success. But it's cost me my personal and family life. I don't know my wife and children anymore. I'm not even sure I know myself and what's really important to me. I've had to ask myself - is it worth it?

Stephen R. Covey

#19. The first job of a leader - at work or at home - is to inspire trust. It's to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.

Stephen M.R. Covey

#20. Unless you're influenced by my uniqueness, I'm not going to be influenced by your advice.

Stephen R. Covey

#21. Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.'

Stephen Covey

#22. The heart and soul of loving yourself is integrity and the peace of conscience it inspires.

Stephen Covey

#23. The more closely our maps or paradigms are aligned with these principles or natural laws, the more accurate and functional they will be

Stephen R. Covey

#24. The reality is that everybody makes mistakes. The issue isn't whether you will make them, it's what you will do about them. It's whether you will choose the path of humility and courage or the path of ego and pride.

Stephen Covey

#25. Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Stephen R. Covey

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

Stephen R. Covey

#27. Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment.

Stephen Covey

#28. What difference would a clear vision of my principles, values, and ultimate objectives make in the way I spend my time?

Stephen Covey

#29. Self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.

Stephen R. Covey

#30. I believe in Coach Louis Wong. He is so much more than just a football coach.

Stephen Covey

#31. The process of building trust is an interesting one, but it begins with yourself, with what I call self trust, and with your own credibility, your own trustworthiness. If you think about it, it's hard to establish trust with others if you can't trust yourself.

Stephen Covey

#32. True independence of character empowers us to act rather than be acted upon.

Stephen Covey

#33. You can't hold someone accountable for results if you supervise their methods.

Stephen Covey

#34. We think we see the world as it is, when in fact we see the world as we are.

Stephen Covey

#35. The best way to develop courage is to set a goal and achieve it, make a promise and keep it.

Stephen Covey

#36. 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

#37. 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

#38. You can retire from a job, but don't ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life.

Stephen Covey

#39. Priority is a function of context.

Stephen Covey

#40. I don't read blogs but occasionally people tell me about what they contain, and I do take questions that come from blogs.

Stephen Covey