Stephen Covey Quotes

345 Sourced Quotes

Perform anonymous service. Whenever we do good for others anonymously, our sense of intrinsic worth and self-respect increases. … Selfless service has always been one of the most powerful methods of influence.

Stephen Covey
Unless we exercise our power to choose wisely, our actions will be determined by conditions. Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.

Stephen Covey
Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.

Stephen Covey
As you begin to think more in terms of importance, you begin to see time differently.

Stephen Covey
When parents see their children's problems as opportunities to build the relationship instead of as negative, burdensome irritations, it totally changes the nature of parent-child interaction. Parents become more willing, even excited, about deeply understanding and helping their children.... This paradigm is powerful in business as well.

Stephen Covey
The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. This literally turns a failure into a success.

Stephen Covey
It's not enough to have values without vision; you want to be good, but you want to be good for something. On the other hand, vision without values can create a Hitler. An empowering mission statement deals with both character and competence; what you want to be and what you want to do in your life.

Stephen Covey
Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent and urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things.

Stephen Covey
If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take just gets you to the wrong place faster.

Stephen Covey
People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to...rather than detracts from...our lives.

Stephen Covey
You will never be able to truly step inside another person, to see the world as he sees it, until you develop the pure desire, the strength of personal character, and the positive Emotional Bank Account, as well as the empathetic listening skills to do it.

Stephen Covey
As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.

Stephen Covey
When it comes to developing character strength, inner security and unique personal and interpersonal talents and skills in a child, no institution can or ever will compare with, or effectively substitute for, the home's potential for positive influence.

Stephen Covey
If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.

Stephen Covey
How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.

Stephen Covey
Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe this is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds.

Stephen Covey
While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences.

Stephen Covey
The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a 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 Covey
One of the best ways to educate our hearts is to look at our interaction with other people, because our relationships with others are fundamentally a reflection of our relationship with ourselves.

Stephen Covey
If you're proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.

Stephen Covey
We accomplish all that we do through delegation - either to time or to other people.

Stephen Covey
Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it / immediately.

Stephen Covey
While we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose our responses.

Stephen Covey
Only as we keep an open communication with our deep inner life will we have the wisdom to make effective choices.

Stephen Covey
Moving along the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do-learn, commit, and do-and learn, commit, and do again.

Stephen Covey
The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, 'Wrong jungle!'... Busy, efficient producers and managers often respond... 'Shut up! We're making progress!'

Stephen Covey
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 Covey
The exercise of true leadership is inversely proportional to the exercise of power.

Stephen Covey
THE MOMENT OF CHOICE
A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence.

Stephen Covey
A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others.

Stephen Covey