Stephen Covey (Stephen Richards Covey) Quotes

Integrity is conforming reality to our words - in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.

Stephen Covey

• Reality
• Promise
• Integrity
• Expectations
• Conform

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Quotes to Explore

• True leadership is moral authority, not formal authority. Leadership is a choice, not a position. The choice is to follow universal timeless principles, which will build trust and respect from the entire organization. Those with formal authority alone will lose this trust and respect.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Choices
  • Moral
  • Authority

• Live the law of love. We encourage obedience to the laws of life when we live the laws of love.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Obedience

• Being proactive is more than taking initiative. It is recognizing that we are responsible for our own choices and have the freedom to choose based on principles and values rather than on moods or condition. Proactive people are agents of change and choose not to be victims, to be reactive, or to blame others.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Mood
  • Responsible
  • Blame

• The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Life
  • Culture
  • Change

• If we live out of our memory, we're tied to the past and to that which is finite. When we live out of our imagination, we're tied to that which is infinite.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Past
  • Imagination
  • Memories

• 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 Covey
  • Character
  • Leadership
  • Endure

• To Retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Absent

• We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Borders
  • Limitation

• I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Nature
  • Humans
  • Deals

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

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Process
  • Victory
  • Plant

• Until we take how we see ourselves (and how we see others) into account, we will be unable to understand how others see and feel about themselves and their world. Unaware, we will project our intentions on their behavior and call ourselves objective.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • World
  • Feels
  • Perspective

• Interdependence is a choice only independent people can make

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Independent
  • Interdependence

• People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived.' They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates, and society.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Freedom
  • Mom
  • Acting

• I keep my phone number unlisted and rely on my associates to handle all voice mail, e-mail, faxes.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Voice
  • Numbers
  • Phones

• Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Together
  • Creating
  • Exciting

• The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Purpose
  • Spiritual
  • Needs

• The way we see things is the source of the way we think or the way we act

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Way
  • Source

• 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 Covey
  • Feels
  • Influence
  • Understood

• Public behavior is merely private character writ large.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Character
  • Behavior

• Strength lies in differences, not in similarities

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Differences
  • Similarity

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

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Morning
  • Abundance
  • Mentality

• Network marketing has come of age. It's undeniable that it has become a way to entrepreneurship and independence for millions of people

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Age
  • Marketing
  • Independence

• The power of transcendent vision is greater than the power of the scripting deep inside the human personality and it subordinates it the scripting, submerges it, until the whole personality is reorganized in the accomplishment of that vision.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Vision
  • Personality
  • Accomplishment

• Be governed by your internal compass, not by some clock on the wall.

  

  Stephen Covey
  • Compass