How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.
Stephen CoveyRead
My behavior is a product of my own conscious choices based on principles, rather than a product of my conditions, based on feelings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our actions stem from deliberate choices informed by principles instead of being reactive to our circumstances or emotions.
In this quote, Stephen Covey emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and conscious decision-making. He asserts that true behavior is not merely a result of external conditions or fleeting feelings, but rather stems from a deep understanding of one's principles and values, urging individuals to take charge of their actions and reactions in life.
Themes
ChoicesPrinciplesBehaviorResponsibilityConsciousness
In practice
Example use cases
During a leadership workshop to inspire self-awareness among participants.
More from Stephen Covey
All quotes →If you want to have a more pleasant, cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, empathic, consistent, loving parent. If you want to have more freedom, more latitude in your job, be a more responsible, a more helpful, a more contributing employee.
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Listen with your eyes for feelings.
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If we live out of our memory, we're tied to the past and to that which is finite. When we live out of our imagination, _x000D_ we're tied to that which is infinite.
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Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.
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Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent and urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things.
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It is easy to be pleasant when life flows by like a song, but the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble, and it always comes with years, and the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through the tears.
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An humble man without learning, but filled with the Holy Spirit, is more powerful than the most nobly-born profound scholar without that inspiration. He who is educated by the Divine Spirit can, in his time, lead others to receive the same Spirit.
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Has worrying about tomorrow every changed it?
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I'm still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don't know.
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