Top 500 Stephen R. Covey Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “Don’t get buried in the thick of thin things.”

— Stephen R. Covey

202. “The way we see things is the source of the way we think or the way we act.”

— Stephen R. Covey

203. “True greatness will be achieved through the abundant mind that works selflessly – with mutual respect, for mutual benefit.”

— Stephen R. Covey

204. “Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.”

— Stephen R. Covey

205. “This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life – investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute.”

— Stephen R. Covey

206. “An abundance mentality springs from internal security, not from external rankings, comparisons, opinions, possessions, or associations.”

— Stephen R. Covey

207. “Spiritual Intelligence represents our drive for meaning and connection with the infinite.”

— Stephen R. Covey

208. “If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.”

— Stephen R. Covey

209. “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness.”

— Stephen R. Covey

210. “Listen, involve, synergize at work. Then you will bury the old and create an entirely new winning culture which will unleash people’s talents and create complementary teams where strengths are made productive and weakness are made irrelevant through the strengths of others.”

— Stephen R. Covey

211. “Your economic security does not lie in your job; it lies in your own power to produce – to think, to learn, to create, to adapt. That’s true financial independence. It’s not having wealth; it’s having the power to produce wealth.”

— Stephen R. Covey

212. “Best way to predict your future is to create it.”

— Stephen R. Covey

213. “Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.”

— Stephen R. Covey

214. “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy – very busy – without being very effective.”

— Stephen R. Covey

215. “Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.”

— Stephen R. Covey

216. “Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.”

— Stephen R. Covey

217. “Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”

— Stephen R. Covey

218. “The process of building trust is an interesting one, but it begins with yourself, with what I call self trust, and with your own credibility, your own trustworthiness. If you think about it, it’s hard to establish trust with others if you can’t trust yourself.”

— Stephen R. Covey

219. “Belief is another word for paradigm. It’s a synonymous. Your belief of the way things are. Values are the way things should be, it’s a paradigm of the way things should be. Beliefs are the paradigms of the way things are.”

— Stephen R. Covey

220. “The key to motivation is motive. It’s the why. It’s the deeper yes! burning inside that makes it easier to say no to the less important.”

— Stephen R. Covey

221. “I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a ‘transformer’ in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.”

— Stephen R. Covey

222. “Our character is basically a composite of our habits.”

— Stephen R. Covey

223. “Vital to quality of life is the ability to work together, learn from each other, and help each other grow.”

— Stephen R. Covey

224. “The greatest thing you can do for your children is love your spouse.”

— Stephen R. Covey

225. “Always surround yourself with people who are even more talented and competent than you.”

— Stephen R. Covey

226. “The more deeply you understand other people, the more you will appreciate them, the more reverent you will feel about them. To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.”

— Stephen R. Covey

227. “Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things.”

— Stephen R. Covey

228. “Priority is a function of context.”

— Stephen R. Covey

229. “Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.”

— Stephen R. Covey

230. “There are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.’ The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.”

— Stephen R. Covey

231. “By centering our lives on timeless, unchanging principles, we create a fundamental paradigm of effective living. It is the center that puts all other centers in perspective.”

— Stephen R. Covey

232. “The first job of a leader-at work or at home-is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.”

— Stephen R. Covey

233. “You have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordingly.”

— Stephen R. Covey

234. “Perhaps the most important vision of all is develop a sense of self, a sense of your own destiny, a sense of unique mission and role in life.”

— Stephen R. Covey

235. “Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects. If you want to live a long life, you need eustress, that is, a deep sense of meaning and of contribution to worthy projects and causes, particularly, your intergenerational family.”

— Stephen R. Covey

236. “I win the private victory when I have made my mind up and commit to live by correct principles and to serve worthy purposes.”

— Stephen R. Covey

237. “If we can’t make and keep commitments to ourselves as well as to others, our commitments become meaningless.”

— Stephen R. Covey

238. “Principles are the territory. Values are maps.”

— Stephen R. Covey

239. “Creating a warm, caring, supportive, encouraging environment is probably the most important thing you can do for your family.”

— Stephen R. Covey

240. “Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Algebra comes before calculus.”

— Stephen R. Covey

241. “Internal victories precede external victories.”

— Stephen R. Covey

242. “There is so much we can do to render service, to make a difference in the world – no matter how large or small our circle of influence.”

— Stephen R. Covey

243. “The first principle of ethical power is Purpose. By purpose, I don’t mean your objective or intention-something toward which you are always striving. Purpose is something bigger. It is the picture you have of yourself-the kind of person you want to be or the kind of life you want to lead.”

— Stephen R. Covey

244. “When you listen with empathy to another person, you give that person psychological air.”

— Stephen R. Covey

245. “A life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth.”

— Stephen R. Covey

246. “If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character.”

— Stephen R. Covey

247. “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 to do what really matters most.”

— Stephen R. Covey

248. “It takes courage to realize that you are greater than your moods, greater than your thoughts, and that you can control your moods and thoughts.”

— Stephen R. Covey

249. “We don’t invent our missions, we detect them.”

— Stephen R. Covey

250. “Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!”

— Stephen R. Covey