Covey’s "7 Habits" is a dense and thought-filled book, full of quotable, almost Emersonian one-liners. Following are my favorite one-liners for PR professionals and online communicators. For anyone seeking help in learing how one becomes transparent in a blog, here is a good strating point.

Habit one: be proactive.
"We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen" (p. 71).

"Reactive people [are driven by] the social weather...Proactive people are driven by values." (p. 72)

"...our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances...and inspire others....Nothing has a greater, longer lasting impression upon another person than the awareness that someone has transcended suffering [and] circumstance." (p. 73).

"Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence...[on] the things they can do something about....Their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase. Reactive people...focus on the weakness of other people, the problems of the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. Their focus results in blaming and accusing...feelings of victimization." (p. 83).

"It's the nature of reactive people to absolve themselves of responsibility." (p. 88).

"By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods." (p. 92).

Habit 2: begin with the end in mind.
"...all things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation." (p.99).

"People cannot live with change if there's not a changeless core within them." (p. 108).

On why a mission statement, should be written down: "...writing is a kind of psycho-neural muscular activity which helps bridge and integrate the conscious and unconscious minds. Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought...." (p. 135). So perhaps daily blogging can be thought of as mental weight lifting or jogging.

On why everyone in the organization should be engaged in developing an organization's mission statement: "Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement. No commitment." (p. 143).

Habit 3: put first things first.
"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." (p. 161).

"...you simply can't think efficiency with people. You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things." (p. 169-170).

"Many people refuse to delegate to other people because they feel it takes too much time and effort....But effectively delegating to others is perhaps the single most powerful high-leverage activity there is." (P. 171).

Public victory (habits 4-6).
"You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into." (p. 186).

"Unless we are willing to achieve real independence, it's foolish to try to develop human relations skills." (p. 186-187).

On making deposits in an "emotional bank account": "The little kindnesses and courtesies are so important. Small discourtesies, little unkindnesses...make large withdrawals. In relationships the little things are the big things." (p. 192).

"Integrity also means avoiding any communication that is deceptive, full of guile, or beneath the dignity of people." (p. 197). A blogger's credo.

"Sincere apologies make deposits [in the emotional bank]; repeated apologies...make withdrawals." (p. 199).

Dag Hammarskjold, former U.N. Secretary-General: "It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the masses." (p. 201).

Habit 4: think win-win.
"Whether you are the president of a company or the janitor, the moment you step from independence into interdependence in any capacity, you step into a leadership role." (p. 206).

"It is much more ennobling of the human spirit to let people judge themselves than to judge them." (p. 224).

"If you put good people in bad systems, you get bad results." (p. 232).

Habit 5: seek first to understand, then to be understood.
This chapter is key to public relations. It also helps explain why research and two-way symmetrical communication are key to any public relations program.

"Communication is the most important skill in life." (p. 237). Blogging has made the importance of skilled communication even more apparent.

"Empathic listening is so powerful because it gives you accurate data...." (p. 241). This is why good communicators instinctively turn comments on in their bogs.

"Next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival-to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated....[The] need for psychological air impacts communication in every area of life." (p. 241).

"Although it's risky and hard, seek first to understand, or diagnose before you prescribe....It's the mark of all true professionals." (p. 243).

Habit 6: synergize.
"...the very strength of [a] relationship is in having another point of view....uniformity is not unity." (p. 274).

"One of the very practical results of being principle-centered is that it makes us whole....When a person has access to both the intuitive, creative, and visual right brain, and the analytical, logical, verbal left brain, then the whole brain is working....[creating] psychic synergy ...in our own head." (p. 275).

"The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with...other human beings. (p. 277).

On sociologist Kurt Lewin's Force Field Analysis: Driving forces encourage upward movement; restraining forces discourage it. Driving forces are "positive, reasonable, logical, conscious, and economic." Restraining forces are "negative, emotional, illogical, unconscious, and social/psychological." (p. 279)

"Increasing driving forces....[is] like pushing against a spring: the harder you push, the harder it is to push until [suddenly it springs back]. The resulting...yo-yo effect causes you to feel...it's too difficult to change....But when you introduce synergy, you....transform those restraining forces into driving ones." (p. 280).

Habit 7: sharpen the saw.
"Probably the greatest benefit you will experience from [daily] exercising will be development of your Habit 1 muscles of proactivity. As you act based on the value of physical well-being instead of reacting to the forces that keep you from exercising...your self-esteem, your self-confidence, and your integrity will be profoundly affected." (p. 292).

"There's no better way to inform and expand your mind...than...the habit of reading good literature....The person who doesn't read is no better off than the person who can't read." (p. 296).

"I believe a life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mind set, of attitude--that you can psych yourself into peace of mind." (p 298).

"Most people are a function of the social mirror, scripted by the opinions [and] perceptions...of the people around them....[But] we can choose to reflect back to others a clear, undistorted vision of themselves....giving a positive reflection in no way diminishes us. It increases us because it increases the opportunities for effective interaction....[As] a positive scripter....you inspire them toward a higher path....You listen to them and empathize with them. You don't absolve them of responsibility; you encourage them to be proactive." (p. 299-300).