“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

“It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment. But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.”

“If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself.”

“Habit 1: Be ProactiveHabit 2: Begin with the End in MindHabit 3: Put First Things FirstHabit 4: Think Win/WinHabit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be UnderstoodHabit 6: SynergizeHabit 7: Sharpen the Saw”

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

“The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.”

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”