Stephen R. Covey Quotes

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”

“Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.”

“If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.”

“When one side benefits more than the other, that's a win-lose situation. To the winner it might look like success for a while, but in the long run, it breeds resentment and distrust.”

“Did you ever consider how ridiculous it would be to try to cram on a farm, to forget to plant in the spring, play all summer and then cram in the fall to bring in the harvest? The farm is a natural system. The price must be paid and the process followed. You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut.”

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

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

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.”

“Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”

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

“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

“All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.”

“Begin with the end in mind.”

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

“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.”

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”

“The key is not to prioritize what's on the schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

“Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.”

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”

“What you do has far greater impact than what you say.”