“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Start with the end in mind. ”
― Stephen R. Covey
“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw”
― Stephen Covey
“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It’s not logical; it’s psychological.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
― Stephen Covey
“It’s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“My wife and I just don’t have the same feelings for each other we used to have. I guess I just don’t love her anymore and she doesn’t love me. What can i do?”
“The feeling isn’t there anymore?” I asked.
“That’s right,” he reaffirmed. “And we have three children we’re really concerned about. What do you suggest?”
“love her,” I replied.
“I told you, the feeling just isn’t there anymore.”
“Love her.”
“You don’t understand. the feeling of love just isn’t there.”
“Then love her. If the feeling isn’t there, that’s a good reason to love her.”
“But how do you love when you don’t love?”
“My friend , love is a verb. Love – the feeling – is a fruit of love, the verb. So love her. Serve her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her. Are you willing to do that?”
― Stephen R. Covey
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”
― Stephen Covey
“To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.”
― Stephen Covey
“If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control – myself.”
― Stephen Covey
“We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment. But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”
― Stephen R. Covey
“The way we see the problem is the problem.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Love is a verb. Love – the feeling – is the fruit of love the verb or our loving actions. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“At some time in your life, you probably had someone believe in you when you didn’t believe in yourself.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic”
― Stephen Covey
“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy.”
― Stephen Covey
“You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Courage isn’t absenct of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”
― Stephen Covey
“Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“There are three constants in life… Change, Choice and Principles.”
― Stephen Covey
“As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
― Stephen Covey
“Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“People simply feel better about themselves when they’re good at something.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“There’s no better way to inform and expand you mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
― Stephen Covey
“How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“How you treat the one reveals how you
regard the many, because everyone is ultimately a one.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“It comes from within.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand.
We listen to reply.”
― Stephen R. Covey
“Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.”
― Stephen Covey