How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.
Stephen CoveyRead
Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people often feel powerless, attributing their struggles to external circumstances.
In this quote, Stephen Covey highlights a common mindset where individuals perceive themselves as victims of their life's circumstances, such as societal events or economic challenges. This perspective can lead to feelings of helplessness, as people focus on external factors rather than recognizing their own agency in responding to these challenges. Covey implies that empowerment comes from understanding that although circumstances can be difficult, individuals still have the ability to choose their reactions and actions in life.
Themes
VictimCircumstancesEmpowermentLifeAgency
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
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.
Stephen CoveyRead
Listen with your eyes for feelings.
Stephen CoveyRead
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.
Stephen CoveyRead
Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.
Stephen CoveyRead
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.
Stephen CoveyRead
Similar quotes
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.
LaoziRead
Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
If Christ is not all to you He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Saviour of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything He is nothing to you.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be...including our perception. Of it
Anais NinRead
When men talk about war, the stories and terminology vary - it's this battle, these weapons, this terrain. But no matter where you go in the world, women use the same language to speak of war. They speak of fire, they speak of death, and they speak of starvation.
Abigail DisneyRead
We are kept from the experience of Spirit because our inner world is cluttered with past traumas . . . As we begin to clear away this clutter, the energy of divine light and love begins to flow through our being.
Thomas KeatingRead