Stephen R. Covey

If you’re proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.

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.

Accountability breeds response-ability.

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

Public behavior is merely private character writ large.

In addition to self-awareness, imagination and conscience, it is the fourth human endowment-independent will-that really makes effective self-management possible. It is the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act rather than to be acted upon, to proactively carry out the program we have developed through the other three endowments. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make every day.

There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles.

Life is about growing and evolving. I feel like my life has been in stages, and the stages I went through when I was younger allowed me to grow into the man I am today.

It’s easy to say no! when there’s a deeper yes! burning inside.

People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. That is why they remain bound.

There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.

Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember – the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.

Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.

The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities – always see them, for they are always there.

The best advice I can give to anyone going through a rough patch is to never be afraid to ask for help.

We need to understand the difference between discipline and punishment. Punishment is what you do to someone; discipline is what you do for someone.

You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.

Never stop fighting for what you believe in and for the people who care about you.