Stephen Covey Quotes
quotes by Stephen Covey

Conservative
Words of Wisdom

"Begin with the end in mind."

"Accountability breeds response-ability."

"Trust is the glue that holds everything together."

"Live out of your imagination, not your history."

"...be a light, not a judge; ...be a model, not a critic."

"Our character is basically a composite of our habits."

"Seek first to understand, and then to be understood."

"Public behavior is merely private character writ large."

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

"There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles."

"Management works in the system; Leadership works on the system."

"You can't talk your way out of problems that you behaved yourself into."

"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."

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

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey."

"In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do."

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

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

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

"Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves."

"We immediately become more effective when we decide to change ourselves rather than asking things to change for us."

"Private victories precede public victories. You can't invert that process any more than you can harvest a crop before you plant it."

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

"There's a common misconception that a person's skill is their talent. Skills, however, are not talents. Talents, on the other hand, require skills."

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to say "no" to other things."

"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."

"Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character."

"The only thing that endures over time is the 'Law of the Farm.' You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate, and water if you expect to reap the harvest."

"Free your heart from hatred - forgive. Free your mind from worries - most never happen. Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less."

"1. Be Proactive. 2. Begin with the end in mind. 3. Put first things first. 4. Think win win. 5. Seek first to understand . . . then to be understood. 6. Synergize. 7. Sharpen the saw."

"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 do what really matters most."

"Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change."

Compiled by Thomas George
editor@BoycottLiberalism.com