Stephen Covey (1932 – 2012)
American author of the bestselling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, as well as other books.
Our choices make the legacy to our children.
We don't invent our missions, we detect them.
We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.
Make your life work instead of making life full of work.
Live the law of love. We encourage obedience to the laws of life when we live the laws of love.
THE MOMENT OF CHOICE
A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence.
Our capacity for production and enjoyment is ?a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity.
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.
of world problems and bewilderment would be lost if we understood our opponents.
Wisdom is synergy of mind and heart.
If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.
The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Values are social norms — they're personal, emotional, subjective, and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. The question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? In the last analysis, principles are natural laws — they're impersonal, factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!
Most people struggle with life balance simply because they haven't paid the price to decide what is really important to them.
The power to distinguish between person and performance and to communicate intrinsic worth flows naturally out of our own sense of intrinsic worth.
...when you get a good night's sleep and wake up ready to produce throughout the day.
Remember, to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.
Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves.
Because of the space between stimulus and response, people have the power of choice; therefore, leaders are neither born nor made — meaning environmentally ?trained and nurtured. They are self-made through chosen responses, and if they choose based on principles and develop increasingly greater discipline, their freedom to choose increases.