Quotes by Stephen Covey
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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.

Actually I did not invent the seven habits, they are universal principles and most of what I wrote about is just common sense. I am embarrassed when people talk about the Covey Habits, and dislike the idea of being some sort of guru.

Courage isn't absenct of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important.

The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.

Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.

Perhaps the most important vision of all is develop a sense of self, a sense of your own destiny, a sense of unique mission and role in life.

You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories proceed Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationships with others.

Being humble does not mean being weak, reticent, or self-effacing. It means recognizing principle and putting it ahead of self. It means standing firmly for principle, even in the fact of opposition.

Spiritual Intelligence represents our drive for meaning and connection with the infinite.

We are product of neither nature nor nurture; we are a product of choice, because there is always a space between stimulus and response. As we wisely exercise our power to choose based on principles, the space will become larger.

The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.

As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values.

Make time for planning: Wars are won in the general's tent.

We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw.

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

Trust is the highest form of human motivation.

The highest challenge inside organizations is to enable each person to contribute his or her unique talents and passion to accomplish the organization's purpose.

The key to creating passion in your life is to find your unique talents, and your special role and purpose in the world.

Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.

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.

Almost every significant breakthrough is the result of a courageous break with traditional ways of thinking.

Without trust, the best we can do is compromise.

Sacrifice really means giving up something good for something better.

Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what's urgent, learn to focus on what is really important.

Win-win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It's not your way or my way; it's a better way, a higher way.

The principle of fasting is taught in almost all major world religions as a means of developing a higher level of self-mastery and self-control, and also a deeper awareness of how really dependent we are.

The universal elements are integrity, vision, discipline, passion, governed by conscience. Conscience has been educated through studying and pondering the universal, timeless principles of all six major world religions.

When people have a real sense of legacy, a sense of mattering, a sense of contribution, it seems to tap into the deepest part of their heart and soul. It brings out the best and subordinates the rest.

Security represents your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem, your basic personal strength or lack of it.

All things are created twice.

But with the steady disintegration of the family in modern society over the last century, the role of the school in bridging the gap has become vital!

When the external factors over which one has no control in a way start to become negative, it starts to affect our creative juices.

This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life--investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute.

Employees are given the chance to help shape their company by participating in a company-wide communications program making suggestions on waste reduction, environmental improvement, customer satisfaction, quality improvement, and safety issues.

The role of the leader is to foster mutual respect and build a complementary team where each strength is made productive and each weakness irrelevant.

Leadership without mutual trust is a contradiction in terms.

People don't listen to understand. They listen to reply. The collective monologue is everyone talking and no one listening.

Management is formal authority given from above. Leadership is moral authority given from below and all around.

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.

When you have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that's called 'success.' But once you have a new challenge, the old, once-successful response no longer works. That's why it is called a 'failure.'

Belief is another word for paradigm. It's a synonymous. Your belief of the way things are. Values are the way things should be, it's a paradigm of the way things should be. Beliefs are the paradigms of the way things are.

All the well-meaning advice in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if we're not even addressing the real problem.

Vital to quality of life is the ability to work together, learn from each other, and help each other grow.

If we spend most of our time concerned about things we cannot truly directly influence, what we can influence will be reduced. If we spend our energies on those things over which we can expect positive results, we will expand our influence.

Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments.

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

A good affirmation has five basic ingredients: it's personal, it's positive, it's present tense, it's visual, and it's emotional.

Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be a part of the solution, not the problem.

I believe that the habit of constant reading of good books and scholarly periodicals and magazines in many disciplines is vital to give a larger perspective and to constantly sense the interdependent nature of life.

When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation.

Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive and your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, and your track record. Both are vital.

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!'

Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic.

Satisfied needs do not motivate. It's only the unsatisfied need that motivates. Next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival -- to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated.

We must not let the actions or words of others determine our responses. Magnanimous people make the choice to respond to the indignities of others based upon their own principles and their own value system rather than their moods or anger.

Principles are the basis for developing a vision and value system for all.

There are principles that govern human effectiveness -- natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguably there as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension.

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

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.

Do what is important, not what is urgent.

Most learning is social, or what I call the cultural DNA. Everyone knows that word of mouth advertising is the best advertising. That's social learning.

People are social beings and want interaction and social learning is the primary form of learning, just as word of mouth advertising is the highest form of advertising.

It doesn't really matter how fast you're going if you're heading in the wrong direction.

An empowering mission statement has to become a living document, part of our very nature, so that the criteria we've put into it are also in us, in the way we live our lives day by day.

One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present. In doing so, we build the trust of those who are present.

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.

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.

We're often so busy cutting through the undergrowth we don't even realise we're in the wrong jungle.

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

Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.

Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition -- such as lifting weights -- we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people.

Whenever you experience stress of any kind, look into yourself and ask, In what way am I compromising my innermost values in this situation?

Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way.

As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.

We hear a lot about identity theft when someone takes your wallet and pretends to be you and uses your credit cards. But the more serious identity theft is to get swallowed up in other people's definition of you.

Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together.

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.

Private victories precede public victories.

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.

Strategy is important, but trust is the hidden variable. On paper you can have clarity around your objectives, but in a low-trust environment, your strategy won't be executed.

Trust is the one thing that affects everything else you're doing. It's a performance multiplier which takes your trajectory upwards, for every activity you engage in, from strategy to execution.