Stephen R. Covey

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.

Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.

Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.

Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, and integrated wholeness.

A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.

The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.

A habit is like a cable: we weave a thread of it everyday, and at last we cannot break it – so we must form good, positive, and productive habits.

Don’t argue for other people’s weaknesses. Don’t argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it – immediately.

Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds.

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.

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

If your watch is slow by just four minutes, that’s not much – unless you’ve been warned that if you’re even one minute late ever again you will be fired. Then four minutes make a big difference.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you think you can only do a little.

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.

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

I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.

Take time to be kind and to say ‘thank you.’

The first step toward success will be the biggest one.