Quotes from Stephen Covey

The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.

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

Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions, and our habits and tendencies.

If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.

We exhaust ourselves more from the tension and the consequences of internal disharmony than from hard, unremitting work.

Effective people do two things: they strive to do excellent work, and they prioritize.

I am convinced that if we as a society work diligently in every other area of life and neglect the family, it would be analogous to straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.

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

Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organizations they work for.

Light is the greatest disinfectant in nature and also in organizations.

Mind over mattress.

Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves.

More essential than working on attitudes and behaviors is examining the paradigms out of which those attitudes and behaviors flow.

We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.

If we want to make a change in our lives, we should first focus on our personal attitudes and behaviors.

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

To set and work toward any goal is an act of courage.

Free your heart from hatred - forgive. Free your mind from worries - most never happen. Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less.

If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.

You can buy a person's hands but you can't buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is.

Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem.

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.