QuoteProject
Public behavior is merely private character writ large.
Stephen Covey
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Our public actions reflect our true character and values.

Stephen Covey's quote emphasizes that how we conduct ourselves in public is a direct extension of our private beliefs and principles. It suggests that authenticity in one’s character is revealed through outward behavior, and thus, our true selves are illuminated in the way we interact with the world around us.

Themes

CharacterPublic BehaviorIntegrityValues

In practice

Example use cases

In a workshop on leadership, someone might say, 'As Stephen Covey stated, public behavior is merely private character writ large, reminding us to lead with integrity.'

More from Stephen Covey

How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.
Stephen CoveyRead
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

The weight of the world is on our shoulders, its vision is through our eyes; if we blink or look aside, or turn back to finger what Plato said or remember Napoleon and his conquests, we inflict on the world the injury of some obliquity. This is life.
Virginia WoolfRead
So: if you buy the notion that reality consists of the things in your freeze-frame mental image right now, and if you agree that your now is no more valid than the now of someone located far away in space who can move freely, then reality encompasses all of the events in spacetime.
Brian GreeneRead
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
A private sin is not so prejudicial in this world, as a public indecency.
Miguel De CervantesRead
We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets; that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts: if he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people believe the same.
Chief JosephRead
Because creation was made in the image of a God who is equally one and many, the human race will finally be reunited and our racial and cultural diversity will remain intact in the renewed world. The human race finally lives together in peace and interdependence. Glory to God in the highest goes with peace on earth.
Timothy KellerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.