Stephen Covey Quotes

Creating and integrating an empowering personal mission statement is one of the most important investments we can make.

Trust is equal parts character and competence... You can look at any leadership failure, and it's always a failure of one or the other.

People who get comfortable in their spirit miss what they were created for. They were created to magnify the glory of the world.

If that had been my only purpose in life - to call home runs and touchdowns - I'd lead a pretty shallow life.

It isn't polls or public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership--men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world.

The foundation of leadership is your own moral compass. I think the best quality leaders really know where their moral compass is. They get it out when they are making decisions. It's their guide. But not only do you have to have a moral compass and take it out of your pocket, it has to have a true north.

To enjoy a good reputation, give publicly, and steal privately.

People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Prescription: Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Decide what you want out of a situation. Always have something ahead of you to “look forward to” — to work for and hope for.

... The future is very markedly in your hands, its value and its moral standing in the world and among ourselves. If you will take the power you have and use it, I have no fear of the outcome of the future.

The purpose that you wish to find in life, like a cure you seek, is not going to fall from the sky. ...I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it's not just divinely assigned.

The soul that has no established aim loses itself

No one wants to be a polarizer, but on the other hand, if you think you're doing right and you believe the decisions you make will lead to a better tomorrow, then they're worthy of defense.

Your mission in life is to have a "why" to live for, to use your best qualities in the service of the kind of world in which you would like to live. That is your purpose. This is what life expects of you. And when you live according to your purpose, setting goals that support it, you may find the pieces of your life drawn together into a strong internal whole. Then, no matter how difficult life's experiences may prove to be, you can be able to endure and even prevail.

People will not follow a leader with moral incongruities for long. Every time you compromise character you compromise leadership. The foundation of firm leadership is character.

Our life must have an aim, but we must also ensure that the direction we take is a good one.

Drama in our lives is the greatest indicator that we're not focused on meaningful goals. On the path to purpose you don't have time for drama.

Your purpose gave birth to you. It has molded and shaped who you are and what you do. Your purpose is the reason you live and breathe. Your purpose guides your heart, hands, and head. It is alive in you. It is there, within, that you must seek to know it and live it.

Leadership is not about popularity, it is about doing what is right.

I have a sense of greatness, which comes from feeling that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing on the planet - empowering people, especially women.

The most effective way I know to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal mission statement or philosophy or creed. It focused on what you want to be (character) and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based.

Nothing is likely to help a person overcome or endure troubles than the consciousness of having a task in life.

It's been fascinating over the last few years, watching the high and mighty in business and politics fall precipitously-not because their plans didn't work, but because their character flaws undercut those plans. Whether the microphone caught them making racist comments or their greed overcame their common sense, who they were as people made all the difference-more than their résumés, their degrees, or even their past successes. If you fail at the art of being human and staying human, you recklessly court disaster.

Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it.

When we lack integrity, we use power to control. When we lead with integrity, we use power to bless.

Ninety-nine percent of leadership failures are failures of character.