Stephen R. Covey Quotes



    “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
Stephen R. Covey

    “The way we see the problem is the problem.”
Stephen R. Covey


    “Start with the end in mind. ”
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

     “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 

    “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 people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
Stephen R. Covey


    “To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.”
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 

     “...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 

    “If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “You can't talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!”
Stephen R. Covey


    “Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “There are three constants in life... Change, Choice and Principles.”
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 

   “Live out of your imagination, not your history.”
Stephen R. Covey

    “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Stephen R. Covey


    “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights. You could no more call them back then ignore the mess they left when they fell.”
Stephen R. Covey


    “Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it / immediately.”
Stephen R. Covey

     “People simply feel better about themselves when they’re good at something.”
Stephen R. Covey 

     “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out”
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

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

     “Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.”
Stephen R. Covey 

     “You can't change the fruit without changing the root.”
Stephen R. Covey

    “As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem”
Stephen R. Covey


     “A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence.”
Stephen R. Covey

     “As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “The way we see things is the source of the way we think or the way we act”
Stephen R. Covey 

     “Begin each day with the blueprint of my deepest values FIRMLY in mind then when challenges come, make decisions BASED on those values.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “When all you want is a person's body and you don't really want their mind, heart or spirit, you have reduced a person to a thing.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “Treat them all the same by treating them differently.”
Stephen R. Covey

    “what is most personal ,is most general.”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “The only person I know, is the person I want to be”
Stephen R. Covey 

    “Involve people in the problem and work out the solution together.”
Stephen R. Covey


    “Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”
Stephen R. Covey

    “Doing the right things for the right reason in the right way is the key to Quality of Life!”
Stephen R. Covey