Stephen R. Covey

While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.

To focus on technique is like cramming your way through school. You sometimes get by, perhaps even get good grades, but if you don’t pay the price day in and day out, you’ll never achieve true mastery of the subjects you study or develop an educated mind.

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.

Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power.

We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.

The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.

Thought is useful when it motivates for action, and a hindrance when it substitutes for action.

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.

Don’t start the day until you have it finished. Don’t start the week until you have it finished. Don’t start the month until you have it finished. Plan your day.

Stay Strong.

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

We are guided by outcomes, not ideology. We have a policy of principled realism, rooted in shared goals, interests, and values. That realism forces us to confront a question facing every leader and nation in this room. It is a question we cannot escape or avoid. We will slide down the path of complacency, numb to the challenges, threats, and even wars that we face. Or do we have enough strength and pride to confront those dangers today, so that our citizens can enjoy peace and prosperity tomorrow?

Don’t get sidetracked. If you do get sidetracked, get back on track as soon as possible. Ultimately sidetracking kills you.

Fortune sides with him who dares.

I am convinced after more than 50 years in the field of motivation that anyone who wants to learn to look at life and/or their circumstances in a positive light can do so.

Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness. Bad people give you experience. Worst people give you a lesson. And the best people give you memories.

Dream big and kick ass.

Business is there if you go after it.

Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.

Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.