Stephen Covey Quotes

345 Sourced Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
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
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
Once you've found your own voice, the choice to expand your influence, to increase your contribution, is the choice to inspire others to find their voice.

Stephen Covey
When we value correct principles, we have truth - a knowledge of things as they are.

Stephen Covey
The greatest and most inspiring mountain climbing achievements in history are not so much stories of individual achievement, but are stories of the extraordinary power of a unified, talented, prepared team that stays loyally committed to one another and to their shared vision to the end.

Stephen Covey
When one side benefits more than the other, that's a win-lose situation. To the winner it might look like success for a while, but in the long run, it breeds resentment and distrust.

Stephen Covey
Principles don't die. They aren't here one day and gone the next. They can't be destroyed by fire, earthquake or theft. Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths.

Stephen Covey
When people seriously undertake to identify what really matters most to them in their lives, what they really want to be and do, they become very reverent. They start to think in larger terms than today and tomorrow.

Stephen Covey
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 Covey
Vision is about more than just getting things done, accomplishing some task, achieving something; it is about discovering and expanding our view of others, affirming them, believing in them, and helping them discover and realize the potential within them-helping them find their own voice.

Stephen Covey
When you have too many top priorities, you effectively have no top priorities.

Stephen Covey
True greatness will be achieved through the abundant mind that works selflessly - with mutual respect, for mutual benefit.

Stephen Covey
We can never really change someone; people must change themselves.

Stephen Covey
The roots of the problems we face in the world, in our national life, and in our family and personal lives are spiritual.

Stephen Covey
Inevitably, anytime we are too vulnerable we feel the need to protect ourselves from further wounds. So we resort to sarcasm, cutting humor, criticism - anything that will keep from exposing the tenderness within. Each partner tends to wait on the initiative of the other for love, only to be disappointed but also confirmed as to the rightness of the accusations made.

Stephen Covey
Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don't see themselves as leaders.

Stephen Covey
There is so much we can do to render service, to make a difference in the world - no matter how large or small our circle of influence.

Stephen Covey
When a person has access to both the intuitive, creative and visual right brain, and the analytical, logical, verbal left brain, then the whole brain is working...And this tool is best suited to the reality of what life is, because life is not just logical-it is also emotional.

Stephen Covey
Affirm people. Affirm your children. Believe in them, not in what you see but in what you don't see - their potential.

Stephen Covey