Quotes by Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey is the author of the best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Other books he has written include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families.

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.”

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

“We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.”

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

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

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

“There are three constants in life... Change, Choice and Principles.”

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

“Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy.”

“Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic."

“Words are like eggs dropped from great heights. You could no more call them back then ignore the mess they left when they fell.”

“Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.”

“Independent will is our capacity to act. It gives us the power to transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to rewrite our scripts, to act based on principle rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance.”

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

“I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow.”

“It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”

“To know and not to do is really not to know.”

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

“People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them.”

“Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.”

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”

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

“To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.”