100 Top Quotes From As a Man Thinketh
"As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen is a concise yet profoundly impactful classic that explores the power of our thoughts in shaping our character and destiny. Drawing inspiration from the biblical proverb, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," Allen contends that our thoughts are the seeds that determine the quality of our lives. He emphasizes the profound connection between the inner world of thoughts and the outer world of actions and circumstances.
Through eloquent prose, Allen explains that by cultivating positive and virtuous thoughts, individuals can improve their lives and become the architects of their own happiness and success. On the contrary, negative and self-defeating thoughts can lead to personal limitations and suffering. This timeless book serves as a powerful reminder of the influence of the mind over our circumstances and encourages readers to take responsibility for their thoughts and attitudes. By fostering a mindset of optimism, gratitude, and purpose, "As a Man Thinketh" inspires us to harness the incredible potential of our thoughts to shape a life of abundance and fulfillment. (As a Man Thinketh Summary).
As a Man Thinketh Quotes
"Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.”
"A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”
"A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.” (Meaning)
"As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”
"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
"The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state...Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
"A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.”
"A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.”
"He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be.”
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.”
"Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thought sand actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating—and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”
"Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
"The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers.”
"A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts.”
"A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”
"There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be by the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance.”
"Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.”
"A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being. For such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees ever more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to fuss, fume, worry, and grieve. He remains poised, steadfast, serene.”
"The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed.”
"They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pitying, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.”
"Man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild.”
"Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being.”
"A noble deed is a dream before it is reality. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul, a beautiful world waits to be realized.”
"Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the after-world, the architects of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived; without them, laboring humanity would perish.”
"For you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love.”
"The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears;”
"Act is the blossom of thought; and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and biter fruitage of his own husbandry”
"The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering are the result of his own mental inharmony.”
"Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.”
"Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, ""Peace, be still!”
"Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.”
"He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.”
"Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life.”
"He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.”
"Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.”
"As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both of suffering and bliss”
"He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Columbus cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it; Copernicus fostered the vision of a multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it; Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it.”
"Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.”
"Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.”
"The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves;”
"And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love.”
"Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.”
"Mind is the Master power that molds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass.”
"Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself;”
"As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.”
"When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food.”
"Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it.”
"The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.”
"Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance."
"To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.”
"One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.”
"Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.”
"Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.”
"All that man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. His suffering and happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is. As he continues to think, so he remains.”
"Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.”
"Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:— He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass.”
"If you would protect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind. Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace.”
"The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought,”
"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,”
"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”
"The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires; and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”
"He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
"Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body. Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body. Thought is the fount of action, life, and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.”
"He necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.”
"Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.”
"Thought is the fount of action, life, and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.”
"But to think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all—such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor.”
"They themselves are makers of themselves.”
"The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.”
"The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous.”
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves;”
"Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful”
"Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step. He who has conquered doubt”
"The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”
"Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.”
"Every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought,”
"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”
"The circumstances, which a man encounters with suffering, are the result of his own mental in harmony. The circumstances, which a man encounters with blessedness, are the result of his own mental harmony. Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought; wretchedness, not lack of material possessions, is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed and rich; he may be blessed and poor. Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and wisely used; and the poor man only descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot as a burden unjustly imposed.”
"You will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal.”
"Thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallise into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence and slavish dependence.”
"UNTIL thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.”
"The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart—this you will build your life by, this you will become.”
"MAN'S mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth.”
"Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.”
"The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of unlawful (unhealthy) thoughts, the body sinks rapidly into disease and decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts, it becomes clothed with youthfulness and beauty.”
"The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set.”
"Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes The wheel the ox behind.... ..If one endure In purity of thought, joy follows him As his own shadow—sure.”
"Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less.”
"Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace.”
"A man does not come to the alms-house or the jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but by the pathway of grovelling thoughts and base desires. Nor does a pure-minded man fall suddenly into crime by stress of any mere external force; the criminal thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart, and the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power.”
"In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are effects, and the energy of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance isn't. Gifts, powers, cloth, highbrow, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they're thoughts completed, items carried out, visions found out.”
"The purpose of suffering is to teach, strengthen, and purify. Do not whine and pity yourself; learn and grow from your faults and failures. Search for the hidden justice that rules your life. Instead of kicking against circumstances, use them as stair-steps to greater heights, as challenges that reveal new powers within yourself. Law, not confusion, rules the universe. Justice, not injustice, is its guiding principle. You attract what you are. You get what you give.”
"Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.”
"Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.”
"The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires,—and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”
"Such is the conscious master, and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience.”
"Every man is where he is by the law of his being;”
"Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction.”
"They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings.”
"You may be keeping accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience—the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on your fingers and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration.”
― Quotes from the book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
As a Man Thinketh Author
James Allen was a profound British philosophical writer known for his inspirational works that explored the power of positive thinking and self-improvement. His most renowned book, "As a Man Thinketh," published in 1903, remains a timeless classic, emphasizing the idea that thoughts shape our reality and determine our success and happiness. With eloquent prose, Allen argued that by cultivating a disciplined and optimistic mindset, individuals could achieve their goals and overcome life's challenges. Drawing from various spiritual and philosophical traditions, he stressed the importance of personal responsibility and the realization that individuals are the architects of their own destinies. James Allen's enduring legacy lies in his ability to instill hope and encourage self-reflection, guiding readers towards a profound understanding of the connection between thought, character, and achievement.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
