If you’ve arrived on this page directly from a search engine, you’re likely familiar with at least one of Wallace D. Wattles’ excellent works. On its own, his isn’t a name that piques the interest of many. Indeed, compared to other figures in his field, not much is known about his life.
Influence and Legacy
Although his works are over 100 years old, his words still ring true today. Wattles has had a significant impact not only on the New Thought movement but also on self-help and modern manifestation literature in general.
The Science of Getting Rich promoted ideas such as that wealth can be attracted, thoughts shape reality, the role of gratitude in attracting blessings, the importance of action driven by vision and faith, and a person’s focus on a creative rather than a competitive mindset (something that we see repackaged today as an abundance mindset).
His teachings don’t discriminate, as he asserts that anyone is capable of implementing his lessons and elevating their lives beyond what they may have thought possible.
Rhonda Byrne, author of the global hit movie and book, The Secret, credits The Science of Getting Rich as her inspiration. And that went on to sell over 30 million copies! Read quotes from The Secret here.
He might just be the greatest self-help author that most people have never heard of!
Published Works
‘The Science of’ trilogy:
- The Science of Getting Rich (1910)
- The Science of Being Well (1910)
- The Science of Being Great (1911)
Other works:
- The New Science of Living And Healing (1907)
- Making the Man Who Can (1909)
- The Personal Power Course: Ten Lessons in Constructive Science (1909)
- A New Christ (1910)
- Hellfire Harrison (1910)
- How to Get What You Want (1911)
Wallace D. Wattles Quotes List in Full
“Every person naturally wants to become all that they are capable of becoming; this desire to realise innate possibilities is inherent in human nature; we cannot help wanting to be all that we can be.”
“Man’s right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and physical development; or, in other words, his right to be rich.”
“No man ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more.”
“There are three motives for which we live; we live for the body, we live for the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is better or holier than the other; all are alike, and no one of the three—body, mind or soul—can live fully if either of the others is cut short of full life and expression.”
“Thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches from the Formless Substance.”
“To do things in a way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think; this is the first step towards getting rich.”
“To look upon the appearances of poverty will produce corresponding forms in your own mind, unless you hold to the truth that there is no poverty; there is only abundance.”
“You want to get rich in order that you may eat, drink, and be merry when it is time to do these things; in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed you mind, and develop your intellect; in order that you may love men and do kind things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find the truth.”
“Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction.”
“First, you believe that there is one Intelligent Substance, from which all things proceed; second, you believe that this Substance gives you everything you desire; and third, you relate yourself to it by a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.”
“The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best; therefore it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.”
“The law of gratitude is the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal, and in opposite directions. | The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to the Supreme is a liberation or expenditure of force; it cannot fail to reach that to which it addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous movement towards you.”
“The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground. You fix attention upon the common, the ordinary, the poor, and the squalid and mean; and your mind takes the form of these things. Then you will transmit these forms or mental images to the Formless, and the common, the poor, the squalid, and mean will come to you.”
“The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which blessings come.”
“To fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.”
“To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things. | On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.”
“You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what you want; you cannot transmit an idea unless you have it yourself.”
“No one ever got rich by studying poverty or thinking about poverty.”
“It is not your part to guide or supervise the creative process; all you have to do with that is to retain your vision, stick to your purpose, and maintain your faith and gratitude.”
“Every act can be made strong and efficient by holding your vision while you are doing it, and putting the whole power of your FAITH and PURPOSE into it.”
“Do all that you can do in a perfect manner every day, but do it without haste, worry, or fear. Go as fast as you can, but never hurry … in the moment you begin to hurry you cease to be a creator and become a competitor.”
“If there are past mistakes whose consequences have placed you in an undesirable business or environment, you may be obliged for some time to do what you do not like to do; but you can make the doing of it pleasant by knowing that it is making it possible for you to come to the doing of what you want to do.”
“When you are in doubt, wait. Fall back on the contemplation of your vision, and increase your faith and purpose; and by all means, in times of doubt and indecision, cultivate gratitude.”
“When you get out of the competitive mind you will understand that you never need to act hastily. No one else is going to beat you to the thing you want to do; there is enough for all. If one space is taken, another and a better one will be opened for you a little farther on; there is plenty of time.”
“You can get rich in ANY business, for if you have not the right talent for you can develop that talent; it merely means that you will have to make your tools as you go along, instead of confining yourself to the use of those with which you were born. It will be EASIER for you to succeed in a vocation for which you already have the talents in a well-developed state; but you can succeed in any vocation.”
“Convey the impression of advancement with everything you do, so that all people shall receive the impression that you are an Advancing Man, and that you advance al who you deal with you.”
“Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous advancement; where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in at once.”
“The mind that seeks mastery over others is the competitive mind; and the competitive is not the creative one. In order to master your environment and your destiny, it is not at all necessary that you should rule over your fellow men and indeed, when you fall into the world’s struggle for the high places, you begin to be conquered by fate and environment, and your getting rich becomes a matter of chance and speculation.”
“Do not feel that you have no chance to get rich because you are working where there is no visible opportunity for advancement, where wages are small and the cost of living high. Form your clear mental vision of what you want, and begin to act with faith and purpose.”
“The man who is certain to advance is the one who is too big for his place, and who has a clear concept of what he wants to be; who knows that he can become what he wants to be and who is determined to BE what he wants to be.”
“All things are made from one Living Substance, which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. While all visible things are made from It, yet this Substance, in its first formless condition is in and through all the visible forms that It has made. Its life is in All, and its intelligence is in All.”
“All you need is to know what you want, and to want it badly enough so that it will stay in your thoughts.”
“Be, all the time, in a grateful frame of mind, and let gratitude be evident in your speech.”
“Begin to do small things in a great way. You must put the whole power of your great soul into every act.”
“By thought, the thing you want is brought to you; by action you receive it.”
“If man will think only thoughts of perfect health, he can cause within himself the functioning of perfect health; all the Power of Life will be exerted to assist him. But this healthy functioning will not continue unless man performs the external, or voluntary, functions of living in a healthy manner.”
“If man’s thoughts of himself had always been those of perfect health, man could not possibly now be otherwise than perfectly healthy.”
“In order to sever all mental relations with disease, you must enter into mental relations with health, making the process positive not negative; one of assumption, not of rejection.”
“It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
“Man’s first step must be to learn how to think perfect health; and his second step to learn how to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep in a perfectly healthy way. If man takes these two steps, he will certainly become well, and remain so.”
“Read only the most optimistic comments on the world’s news; those in harmony with your picture.”
“That which makes you want more money is the same as that which makes the plant grow; it is Life, seeking fuller expression.”
“The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best. Therefore it tends to become the best. It takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.”
“The human body is the abiding place of an energy which renews it when worn; which eliminates waste or poisonous matter, and which repairs the body when broken or injured. This energy we call life. Life is not generated or produced within the body; it produces the body.”
“The purpose of Nature, so far as man is concerned, is that he should be continuously advancing into more life, and progressing toward perfect life; and that he should live the most compete life possible in his present sphere of action.”
“There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. | A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imagined by the thought. | Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.”
“There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire for riches is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant life, and that desire is praise worthy.”
“To be well it is not enough that man should merely think in a Certain Way; he must apply his thought to himself, and he must express and externalize it in his outward life by acting in the same way he thinks.”
“You may have some uncertainty as to methods, but you must have none as to ultimate results. You may not feel certain that you will succeed today, or next week, but you must feel certain that you will succeed sometime.”