Quotes from Stephen R. Covey

How can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?" —Henry David Thoreau

I think it should contain two basic parts: vision and principles. Vision deals with the mental picture of what you are about. And principles deal with how you go about it.

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.

private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves.

the first and most basic habit of a highly effective person in any environment, the habit of proactivity.

remember to keep working from the inside out and keep getting back on track when we blow it.

At the very heart of our Circle of Influence is our ability to make and keep commitments and promises. The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, are the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity.

he can only answer to life by answering for his own life;

For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." –Henry David Thoreau

I take as my guide the hope of a saint: in crucial things, unity—in important things, diversity—in all things, generosity. INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT GEORGE H. W. BUSH

The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to

whether it is with a business associate, a spouse, a friend, or a teenage child going through an identity crisis. It is character that communicates most eloquently. As Emerson once put it, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.

My experience has been that there are times to teach and times not to teach.

And their immediate request is very revealing of their basic paradigm. "How do you do it? Teach me the techniques." What they're really saying is, "Give me some quick fix advice or solution that will relieve the pain in my own situation.

While practices are situationally specific, principles are deep, fundamental truths that have universal application.

others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.

FRIEND/ENEMY CENTEREDNESS. Young people are particularly, though certainly not exclusively, susceptible to becoming friend-centered. Acceptance and belonging to a peer group can become almost supremely important. The distorted and ever-changing social mirror becomes the source for the four life-support factors, creating a high degree of dependence on the fluctuating moods, feelings, attitudes, and behavior of others. Friend

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

Prepared Imaginative Good at listening Powerful Humorous Adventurous Self-assured Intuitive Loyal Persistent Goal-Oriented Courageous Determined Committed Self-affirming Resilient Genuine Aware of my talents Responsible Passionate Positive Creative Playful Independent Optimistic Caring

Table of Contents Part One: Paradigms and Principles INSIDE-OUT THE 7 HABITS—AN OVERVIEW Part TWO: PRIVATE VICTORY HABIT 1: BE PROACTIVE ® HABIT 2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND ® HABIT 3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST ® Part Three: public victory PARADIGMS OF INTERDEPENDENCE ® HABIT 4: THINK WIN/ WIN ®

It is simply impossible to violate, ignore, or shortcut this development process. It is contrary to nature, and attempting to seek such a shortcut only results in disappointment and frustration.

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

If you pick up one end of the stick, you pick up the other.

On the maturity continuum, dependence is the paradigm of you—you take care of me; you come through for me; you didn't come through; I blame you for the results.