Stephen Covey - Principles Quotes

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Humility is the mother of all virtues. Humility says we are not in control, principles are in control, therefore we submit ourselves to principles. Pride says that we are in control, and since our values govern our behavior, we can simply do life our way.

Stephen Covey
Attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meeting. You can be active in a church but inactive in its gospel.

Stephen Covey
Everyone has values; even criminal gangs have values. Values govern people's behavior but principles govern the consequences of those behaviors.

Stephen Covey
If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication.

Stephen Covey
Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.

Stephen Covey
In effective personal leadership, visualization and affirmation techniques emerge naturally out of a foundation of well thought through purposes and principles that become the center of a person's life.

Stephen Covey
There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles.

Stephen Covey
Our problems and pain are universal and increasing, and the solutions to the problems are and always will be based upon universal, timeless, self-evident principles common to every enduring, prospering society throughout history.

Stephen Covey
Because of the space between stimulus and response, people have the power of choice; therefore, leaders are neither born nor made — meaning environmentally trained and nurtured. They are self-made through chosen responses, and if they choose based on principles and develop increasingly greater discipline, their freedom to choose increases.

Stephen Covey
Values are social norms — they're personal, emotional, subjective, and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. The question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? In the last analysis, principles are natural laws — they're impersonal, factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!

Stephen Covey