Top 500 Stephen R. Covey Quotes (2024 Update)

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Inspiring Quotes

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Inspiring Quotes

5. “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 R. Covey

6. “Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

— Stephen R. Covey

7. “Start with the end in mind.”

— Stephen R. Covey

8. “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Understanding Quotes

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Perseverance Quotes, Basketball Quotes

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Courage Quotes

11. “Make time for planning: Wars are won in the general’s tent.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Quotes About War

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Business Quotes

13. “There are three constants in life: change, choice and principles.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Life Quotes, Change Quotes

14. “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

Featured in: Relationship Quotes, Quotes About Trust

15. “To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before, you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.”

— Stephen R. Covey

16. “Proactive people carry their own weather with them.”

— Stephen R. Covey

17. “Synergy is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.”

— Stephen R. Covey

18. “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Life Quotes

19. “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”

— Stephen R. Covey

20. “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

Featured in: Success Quotes

21. “Leadership is a choice, not a position.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Choices Quotes

22. “The way we see the problem is the problem.”

— Stephen R. Covey

23. “Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Goal Quotes

24. “Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic.”

— Stephen R. Covey

25. “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are – or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms.”

— Stephen R. Covey

26. “One thing’s for sure. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting. One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Different Quotes

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Leadership Quotes

28. “It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.”

— Stephen R. Covey

29. “Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment.”

— Stephen R. Covey

30. “When you have too many top priorities, you effectively have no top priorities.”

— Stephen R. Covey

31. “Live your life by a compass, not a clock.”

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Investing Quotes

33. “Accountability breeds response-ability.”

— Stephen R. Covey

34. “If the big rocks don’t go in first, they aren’t going to fit in later.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

35. “To live; to love; to learn; and to leave a legacy.”

— Stephen R. Covey

36. “Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions.”

— Stephen R. Covey

37. “Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what’s urgent, learn to focus on what is really important.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Focus Quotes

38. “We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw.”

— Stephen R. Covey

39. “People don’t listen to understand. They listen to reply. The collective monologue is everyone talking and no one listening.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Quotes About Listening

40. “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”

— Stephen R. Covey

41. “You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut.”

— Stephen R. Covey

42. “If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control – myself.”

— Stephen R. Covey

43. “The essence of synergy is to value differences-to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses.”

— Stephen R. Covey

44. “The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Passion Quotes, Freedom Quotes

45. “We judge ourselves by our intentions. And others by their actions.”

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

47. “You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.”

— Stephen R. Covey

48. “We think we see the world as it is, when in fact we see the world as we are.”

— Stephen R. Covey

49. “When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”

— Stephen R. Covey

50. “The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.””

— Stephen R. Covey