Welcome to the best collection of James Allen Quotes from As a Man Thinketh and his other books.
James Allen was a British philosophical writer known for his inspirational books and poetry and as a pioneer of the self-help movement. He had written a total of 19 books in his 12 years of writing.
His best-known work, As a Man Thinketh, has been mass-produced since its publication in 1903. It is one of the most popular self-help books around and I would consider it essential reading for being such a short and inspirational read at less than 50 pages.
In As a Man Thinketh, James Allen shares the simple message: As we think, so we become.
Today some people will refer to it as “The Secret” (written by Rhonda Byrne) or “The Law Of Attraction”. The basic premise being that you create your life by the consistent thoughts you think.
James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh is a short book that will leave you feeling inspired and empowered. The truth is that life is what we make of it with our thoughts and I hope that this collection of James Allen quotes from As a Man Thinketh and his various other books help you to remember that no matter what events or circumstances you find yourself in you are always in control of the thoughts you think and because of that you are in control of what you experience.
As A Man Thinketh Quotes By James Allen
1. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” – James Allen
2. “A man is literally what he thinks.” – James Allen
3. “Man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.” – James Allen
4. “Man is made or unmade by himself. By the right choice he ascends. As a being of power, intelligence, and love, and the commander of his own thoughts, he holds the key to every situation.” – James Allen
5. “Man is made or unmade by himself. In the armory 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.” – James Allen
6. “The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs.” – James Allen
7. “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” – James Allen
8. “Our life is what our thoughts make it. A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.” – James Allen
9. “The outer condition 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.” – James Allen
10. “A person is limited only by the thought that he chooses.” – James Allen
11. “You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.” – James Allen
12. “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.” – James Allen
13. “Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.” – James Allen
14. “Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.” – James Allen
15. “He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: environment is but a looking glass.” – James Allen
16. “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.” – James Allen
17. “Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life.” – James Allen
18. “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.” – James Allen
19. “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.” – James Allen
20. “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and 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.” – James Allen
21. “The man who thinks hateful thoughts brings hatred upon himself. The man who thinks loving thoughts is loved.” – James Allen
22. “Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err.” – James Allen
23. “Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallises into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.” – James Allen
24. “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.” – James Allen
25. “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.” – James Allen
26. “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.” – James Allen
27. “You cannot escape the results of your thoughts. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.” – James Allen
28. “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 reality.” – James Allen
29. “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.” – James Allen
30. “He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would accomplish much must sacrifice much. He, who would attain highly, must sacrifice greatly.” – James Allen
31. “Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.” – James Allen
32. “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.” – James Allen
33. “Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to “drift” upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.” – James Allen
34. “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.” – James Allen
35. “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.” – James Allen
36. “Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food. Clean thoughts make clean habits.” – James Allen
37. “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.” – James Allen
38. “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.” – James Allen
39. “There is no physician like cheerful thought for dissipating the ills of the body; there is no comforter to compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow.” – James Allen
40. “Healthy thoughts become healthy habits. Hold a vision of yourself glowing with energy and vitality, act in harmony with that vision, and you will grow to embody it.” – James Allen
41. “Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open to the entrance of disease.” – James Allen
42. “A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.” – James Allen
43. “He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belong neither to the oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.” – James Allen
44. “They who have conquered doubt and fear have conquered failure.” – James Allen
45. “Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.” – James Allen
46. “Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They always lead to failure.” – James Allen
47. “A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile. 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.” – James Allen
48. “When mental energy is allowed to follow the line of least resistance and to fall into easy channels, it is called weakness.” – James Allen
49. “A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak 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.” – James Allen
50. “A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.” – James Allen
51. “The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within; the secret of all happiness as of all misery is likewise within.” – James Allen
52. “Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his ‘household.'” – James Allen
53. “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. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be no object in burning gold after the dross had been removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened being could not suffer.” – James Allen
54. “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.” – James Allen
55. “The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do.” – James Allen
56. “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.” – James Allen
57. “He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.” – James Allen
58. “Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” – James Allen
59. “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become, your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” – James Allen
60. “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.” – James Allen
61. “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 him, your world will at last be built.” – James Allen
62. “Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, ‘Peace, be still!'” – James Allen
More Inspirational James Allen Quotes
63. “The key to happiness is having dreams; the key to success is making them come true.” – James Allen
64. “For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?” – James Allen
65. “A man does not live until he begins to discipline himself; he merely exists.” – James Allen
66. “The world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going.” – James Allen
67. “Fixedness of purpose is the root of all successful efforts.” – James Allen
68. “All things at last yield to the silent, irresistible, all conquering energy of purpose.” – James Allen
69. “The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” – James Allen
70. “No man is hindered by another; he is only hindered by himself. No man suffers because of another; he suffers only because of himself.” – James Allen
71. “A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts.” – James Allen
72. “Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living purely today.” – James Allen
73. “No temptation can gravitate to a man unless there is that is his heart which is capable of responding to it.” – James Allen
74. “Renew your resolution daily, and in the hour of temptation do not depart from the right path.” – James Allen
75. “Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts inevitably bring about right results.” – James Allen
76. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” – James Allen
77. “A man has to learn that he cannot command things but that he can command himself; that he cannot coerce the wills of others but that he can mold and master his own will; and things serve him who serves Truth; people seek guidance of him who is master of himself.” – James Allen
Did you like these inspirational quotes?
What are your favorite James Allen quotes? What are your favorite As A Man Thinketh quotes? Let me know in the comments below and please share this post.
