“The core of any family is what is changeless, what is going to be there──shared vision and values.”

“People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them.”

“If you organize your family life to spend even ten or fifteen minutes a morning reading something that connects you with these timeless principles, its almost guaranteed that you will make better choices during the day--in the family, on the job, in every dimension of life. Your thoughts will be higher. Your interactions will be more satisfying. You will have a greater perspective. You will increase that space between what happens to you and your response to it. You will be more connected to what really matters most.”

“Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values, therefore, value principles!”

“In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted upon.”

“Principles are the territory. Values are maps. When we value correct principles, we have truth -- a knowledge of things as they are.”

“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”