Top 500 Stephen R. Covey Quotes (2025 Update)
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251. “The real beginning of influence comes as others sense you are being influenced by them – when they feel understood by you – that you have listened deeply and sincerely, and that you are open.”

— Stephen R. Covey

252. “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

253. “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

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

258. “Internal victories precede external victories.”

— Stephen R. Covey

259. “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

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

— Stephen R. Covey

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

— Stephen R. Covey

262. “I am fortunate to have a very helpful team that enables me to spend time doing things that are important but not necessarily urgent. People who have no such team need to also make these larger decisions so that they can cheerfully say No to that which is urgent but not important.”

— Stephen R. Covey

263. “A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others.”

— Stephen R. Covey

264. “In many situations involving service recovery – the problem itself became the catalyst for the creation of even greater trust as the companies took the issues head-on and worked through the difficult problem in a way that restored confidence.”

— Stephen R. Covey

265. “The role of the leader is to foster mutual respect and build a complementary team where each strength is made productive and each weakness irrelevant.”

— Stephen R. Covey

266. “None of us see the world as it is but as we are, as our frames of reference, or maps, define the territory.”

— Stephen R. Covey

267. “Effective interdependence can only be built on true independence.”

— Stephen R. Covey

268. “Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building.”

— Stephen R. Covey

269. “Almost all of the world-class athletes and other peak performers are visualizers. They see it; they feel it; they experience it before hey actually do it. They begin with the end in mind.”

— Stephen R. Covey

270. “When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation.”

— Stephen R. Covey

271. “Through imagination, we can visualize the uncredited worlds of potential that lie within us.”

— Stephen R. Covey

272. “People and their managers are working so hard to be sure things are done right, that they have hardly have time to decide if they are doing the right things.”

— Stephen R. Covey

273. “The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings.”

— Stephen R. Covey

274. “The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.”

— Stephen R. Covey

275. “Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought.”

— Stephen R. Covey

276. “The key to motivation is motive.”

— Stephen R. Covey

277. “Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.”

— Stephen R. Covey

278. “You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!”

— Stephen R. Covey

279. “It’s not what people do to us that hurts us. In the most fundamental sense, it is our chosen response to what they do to us that hurts us.”

— Stephen R. Covey

280. “Principles are natural laws that are external to us and that ultimately control the consequences of our actions. Values are internal and subjective and represent that which we feel strongest about in guiding our behavior.”

— Stephen R. Covey

281. “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.”

— Stephen R. Covey

282. “The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.”

— Stephen R. Covey

283. “Petty things become unimportant when people are impassioned about a purpose higher than self.”

— Stephen R. Covey

284. “Effective leadership is the only competitive advantage that will endure. That’s because leadership has two sides- what a person is character and what a person does- competence.”

— Stephen R. Covey

285. “Values determine behavior; Principles determine the consequences of behavior.”

— Stephen R. Covey

286. “It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.”

— Stephen R. Covey

287. “You can say you love someone – but unless you demonstrate that love through your actions, your words become meaningless.”

— Stephen R. Covey

288. “Involve people in the problem and work out the solution together.”

— Stephen R. Covey

289. “True independence of character empowers us to act rather than be acted upon.”

— Stephen R. Covey

290. “Be governed by your internal compass, not by some clock on the wall.”

— Stephen R. Covey

291. “Make specific appointments with yourself to work on goals, and treat an appointment with yourself as you’d treat an appointment with anybody else.”

— Stephen R. Covey

292. “See every problem as an opportunity to exercise creative energy.”

— Stephen R. Covey

293. “Treat them all the same by treating them differently.”

— Stephen R. Covey

294. “Success comes from the ability to view each arising problem as an opportunity for self improvement.”

— Stephen R. Covey

295. “Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution.”

— Stephen R. Covey

296. “Leadership without mutual trust is a contradiction in terms.”

— Stephen R. Covey

297. “Link yourself to your potential, not to your past.”

— Stephen R. Covey

298. “Over time, I have come to this simple definition of leadership: Leadership is getting results in a way that inspires trust.”

— Stephen R. Covey

299. “We do make a difference – one way or the other. We are responsible for the impact of our lives. Whatever we do with whatever we have, we leave behind us a legacy for those who follow.”

— Stephen R. Covey

300. “Begin each day with the blueprint of my deepest values FIRMLY in mind then when challenges come, make decisions BASED on those values.”

— Stephen R. Covey