Quotes from Stephen R. Covey

For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have

we also faced the reality that we had the power to choose a positive response to those circumstances and projections.

Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, by determining which of these two circles is the focus of most of our time and energy, we can discover much about the degree of our proactivity.

If we work upon marble, it will perish. If we work upon brass, time will efface it. But if we work upon immortal minds, and instill into them just principles, we are then engraving upon tablets which no time will efface but will brighten and brighten to all eternity." I

An agreement means very little in letter without the character and relationship base to sustain it in spirit.

For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." We

if you want to have a happy marriage, be the kind of person who generates positive energy and sidesteps negative energy rather than empowering it.

In order to see our son differently, Sandra and I had to be different. Our new paradigm was created as we invested in the growth and development of our own character. Paradigms are inseparable from character. Being is seeing in the human dimension. And what we see is highly interrelated to what we are. We can't go very far to change our seeing without simultaneously changing our being, and vice versa.

Reactive people, on the other hand, focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. Their focus results in blaming and accusing attitudes, reactive language, and increased feelings of victimization.

Management is a bottom line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things? Leadership deals with the top line: What are the things I want to accomplish? In the words of both Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. You

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. E

We're into managing with efficiency, setting and achieving goals before we have even clarified our values.

Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments.

As long as we are working in our Circle of Concern, we empower the things within it to control us. We aren't taking the proactive initiative necessary to effect positive change.

It was not until we changed those basic paradigms, until we saw things differently, that we were able to create quantum change in ourselves and in the situation.

For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have" (Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind).

our basic human needs and capacities to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy

As one successful parent said about raising children, "Treat them all the same by treating them differently.

We used to try to do more with less; now many of us are trying on our own to do everything at once.

The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—"just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren't disappointed by anyone or anything.

life is a mission and not a career," and that we could find true happiness by serving others.

SO, WHAT DO YOU WANT to be when you grow up? That question may appear a little trite at first, but just think about it for a moment. Are you— right now—who you want to be, what you dreamed you'd be, doing what you always wanted to do? Now, be honest. Well, are you?

Principles are like lighthouses. They are natural laws that cannot be broken.

Grandparents who show a great interest in their grandchildren are among the most precious people on this earth. What