Stephen R. Covey
American author and educator, 1932-2012
59 quotes.
Quotes by Stephen R. Covey
- A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It’s the testing point of our character and competence.
- All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.
- Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!
- Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
- I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
- If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.
- In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
- Internal victories precede external victories.
- It’s not enough to have values without vision; you want to be good, but you want to be good for something.
- Live, love, learn, leave a legacy.
- Live out of your imagination, not your history.
- Live your life by a compass, not a clock.
- Make your life work instead of making life full of work.
- Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
- Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
- Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.
- Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. Nothing is as fulfilling as a relationship of trust. Nothing is as inspiring as an offering of trust. Nothing is as profitable as the economics of trust. Nothing has more influence than a reputation of trust.
- Often we are so busy with sawing that we forget to sharpen the saw..
- Our capacity for production and enjoyment is a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity.
- Our life is result of our choices.
- 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.
- Prepare your mind and heart before you prepare your speech. What we say may be less important than how we say it.
- Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.
- Remember, to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.
- Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects.
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
- Seek to understand before you seek to be understood.
- Self growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no higher investment.
- Selfless service has always been one of the most powerful methods of influence.
- Start with the end in mind.
- Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
- Synergy is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.
- The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.
- The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.
- The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.
- The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
- The main thing is to keep the main thing a main thing.
- The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it.
- There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles.
- To achieve goals you've never achieved before, you need to start doing things you've never done before.