Stephen Covey Quotes

345 Sourced Quotes

Before a performance, a sales presentation, a difficult confrontation, or the daily challenge of meeting a goal, see it clearly, vividly, relentlessly, over and over again. Create an internal "comfort zone". Then, when you get into the situation, it isn't foreign. It doesn't scare you.

Stephen Covey
Intrinsic security doesn't come from what other people think of us or how they treat us. It doesn't come from our circumstance or out position. It comes from within. It comes from accurate paradigms and correct principles deep in our own mind and heart. It comes from inside-out congruence, from living a life of integrity in which our daily habits reflect our deepest values.

Stephen Covey
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
The fire inside people is like a match; the way to ignite that flame is initially through friction, then other matches are lit through warmth.

Stephen Covey
Quality relationships are built on principles, especially the principle of trust.

Stephen Covey
The place to begin building any relationship is inside ourselves, inside our circle of influence, our own character.

Stephen Covey
Petty things become unimportant when people are impassioned about a purpose higher than self.

Stephen Covey
If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won't require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external.

Stephen Covey
The problems in life come when we're sowing one thing and expecting to reap something entirely different.

Stephen Covey
Management is clearly different from leadership. Leadership is primarily a high-powered, right-brain activity. It's more of an art it's based on a philosophy. You have to ask the ultimate questions of life when you're dealing with personal leadership issues.

Stephen Covey
Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.

Stephen Covey
I believe that correct principles are natural laws, and that God, the Creator and Father of us all, is the source of them, and also the source of our conscience. I believe that to the degree people live by this inspired conscience, they will grow to fulfill their natures; to the degree that they do not, they will not rise above the animal plane.

Stephen Covey
What does it matter how much we do if what we're doing isn't what matters most?

Stephen Covey
Passion is the fire, enthusiasm and courage that an individual feels when she is doing something she loves while accomplishing worthy ends, something that satisfies her deepest needs.

Stephen Covey
We could not have gotten where we are without coming the way we came.

Stephen Covey
The key to acting with integrity is to simply stop playing the game.

Stephen Covey
In many situations involving service recovery - the problem itself became the catalyst for the creation of even greater trust as the companies took the issues head-on and worked through the difficult problem in a way that restored confidence.

Stephen Covey
While I believe in the power of positive thought, I do not believe that you or I can simply psyche ourselves into success or peace of mind.

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

Stephen Covey
Nevertheless, the only way we can move from where we are now to where we would like to be is to accept where we are now.

Stephen Covey
I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with.

Stephen Covey
If you say to one flower, 'Grow,' but you water another, the first one won't grow.

Stephen Covey
The ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust is the key professional and personal competency of our time.

Stephen Covey
We tend to get what we expect - both from ourselves and from others. When we expect more, we tend to get more; when we expect less, we tend to get less.

Stephen Covey
An effective goal focuses primarily on results rather than activity. It identifies where you want to be, and, in the process, helps you determine where you are. It gives you important information on how to get there, and it tells you when you have arrived. It unifies your efforts and energy. It gives meaning and purpose to all you do.

Stephen Covey
Only 20 percent of employees working in large organizations surveyed feel their strengths are in play every day. Thus, eight our of ten employees surveyed feel somewhat miscast in their role.

Stephen Covey
It's like the more you know the more you know you don't know.

Stephen Covey
If you focus on principles, you empower everyone who understands those principles to act without constant monitoring, evaluating, correcting, or controlling.

Stephen Covey
Being proactive is more than taking initiative. It is recognizing that we are responsible for our own choices and have the freedom to choose based on principles and values rather than on moods or condition. Proactive people are agents of change and choose not to be victims, to be reactive, or to blame others.

Stephen Covey
If you don't choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.

Stephen Covey