The first of three books that were published after Florence Scovel Shinn’s death, “The Power of the Spoken Word” examines the creative and transformative power of language.
The book draws from spiritual and biblical principles to illustrate how positive speech, backed by faith, can overcome adversity and manifest health, wealth, peace, and success.
While we can’t control our thoughts, Shinn argues, we can control what we say. In time, the word wins out over the thoughts. Making it possible to switch from a negative mindset to a more positive one.
Themes such as intuition, divine power, fearlessness, and the fulfillment of desires are explored, with practical affirmations offered throughout the book.
By aligning our words with divine law and exercising unwavering faith, we can achieve harmonious living and fulfill our highest potential.
Quotes from “The Power of the Spoken Word”
Intuition and Spiritual Awareness
- “Intuition is the magic path, the beeline to your demonstration. Intuition is a Spiritual faculty above the intellect. It is the ‘still small voice’ commonly called a hunch, which says, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it.'”
- “It is very difficult for a person who has always followed the reasoning mind, to suddenly follow intuition.”
- “We have the power of choice–we may follow the magic path of intuition, or the long and hard road of experience, by following the reasoning mind. By following the superconscious we attain the heights.”
- “To work with God-power you must give it right of way and still the reasoning mind.”
- “If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. As you believe in yourself and the God-power within; fear and anxiety drop away. You establish the vibration of assurance. This is true of an intuitive person. Every move is made under Divine guidance and he never violates a ‘hunch,’ therefore, he is always in his right place at the right time.”
- “Let intuition be your compass and it will always get you out of the woods.”
Power of Thoughts and Consciousness
- “You have built up a fixed idea that ‘Life is hard and filled with disappointments.’ You will meet these thoughts as concrete experiences in life, for ‘Out of the imaginations of the heart come the issues of life.'”
- “We should all build up in consciousness a picture of peace, harmony and beauty and some day it will push itself into visibility.”
- “A person with a rich consciousness attracts riches. A person with a poor consciousness attracts poverty.”
- “The only person to change, is yourself. As you change, all the conditions around you will change! People will change!”
- “When you are undisturbed by a situation it falls away of its own weight. Your life is outpictured by the sum-total of your subconscious beliefs. Wherever you go, you take these conditions with you.”
- “All life is vibration. You combine with what you notice, or you combine with what you vibrate to. If you are vibrating to injustice and resentment you will meet it on your pathway, at every step. You will certainly think it is a hard world and that everybody is against you.”
- “To change your world, you must change your vibrations. Turn on a different current in your battery of thought, and you’ll see the difference immediately.”
- “All life is vibration. Feel rich, and you attract riches. Feel successful and you become successful.”
- “Anxiety and habit have become habits. The old thought-forms you have built up in the subconscious, hang on like barnacles on an ocean liner. But the ocean liner is put in dry-dock once in a while to have the barnacles scraped off, so, your mental barnacles will have to go through the same process. The dry-dock is a big situation.”
Fear and Negative Thinking
- “Fear is man’s only adversary. You face defeat whenever you are fearful! Fear of lack! Fear of failure! Fear of loss! Fear of personality! Fear of criticism! Fear robs you of all power, for you have lost your contact with the Universal Power House.”
- “Every negative situation in your life is a crystalized thought, it has been built up out of your own vain imaginings! But these situations cannot stand the light of truth. So, you face the situation fearlessly, saying, ‘the Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?.”
- “Fear is man’s worst enemy for you attract what you fear.”
- “Your enemies are your doubts and fears, your criticisms and your resentments. Every negative thought is an enemy. You may be outnumbered by adverse appearances, but be not afraid or dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.”
- “Many people lose the things they prize or love because they are continually fearing their loss. They do everything possible on the external to insure protection, but back of it all is the devastating picture of fear. In order to hold the things you prize and love, you must know that they are Divinely protected, therefore, nothing can harm them.”
- “The average person is a resenter, a resister, or a regretter. They resent people they know and people they don’t know. They resist everything from daylight saving up. They regret what they did or what they didn’t do. It is very wearing to be with these people. They exhaust all their friends. It is because are not living in the wonderful now and are losing all the tricks in the game of life.”
- “Words and thoughts must be handled with wisdom and understanding. The imagination is man’s workshop, and an imagination running wild and building up fear pictures, is just about as safe as riding a bucking broncho.”
- “There is only one way of getting rid of fear–and that is, to transmute it into faith; for fear is the opposite of faith.”
- “What a beautiful world this would be if all anxiety and fear were blotted out. These twins, anxiety and worry, have made men slaves and are destroyers of health, wealth and happiness.”
- “Many people are without vital interests and are hungry to hear what other people are doing. They are usually the ones who keep the radio turned on from early morning till late at night. They must be entertained every minute. Their own affairs do not hold enough interest.”
Affirmations and Positive Language
- “‘Let me now express the Divine Idea in my mind, body and affairs.’ If you will impress the subconscious by repeating this statement you will be amazed at the changes which soon take place. You will be bombarded by new ideas and new ideals. A chemical change will take place in your body. Your environment will change for the better, for you are expanding rapidly into the Divine Plan, where all conditions are permanently perfect.”
- “‘My goodwill is a strong tower round about me. I now transmute all enemies into friends, all inharmony into harmony, all injustice into justice.’ You will be amazed at the working of the law. One student brought harmony out of chaos in her business affairs by that statement.”
- “You are now a master workman and your tools are your words. Be sure you are building constructively, according to the Divine Plan.”
- “With divine enthusiasm I bless what I have, and look with wonder at their increase.”
- “How can a person attain peace when his whole life is in a turmoil? By taking an affirmation. You cannot control your thought but you can control your words, and eventually the word wins out.”
- “The subconscious has no sense of humor. People joke destructively about themselves and the subconscious takes it seriously.”
- “Owing to the vibratory power of words, what you voice, you begin to attract.”
- “We should have signs in the subways and shops ‘Watch your thoughts!’ ‘What your words!'”
- “You cannot always control your thought but you can control your word, and eventually the word impresses the subconscious and wins out.”
- “Change your words and you change your world, for your word is your world.”
- “That is the value of the affirmation. You are deliberately building up a constructive idea in your consciousness. Your consciousness may be crammed and jammed with destructive ideas, but continually making a statement of Truth, will dissolve these negative thought forms. These thought-forms have been built up from your own vain imaginings.”
- “Make the most of your disappointments by transmuting them into happy surprises. Transmute all failure into success. Transmute all un-forgiveness into forgiveness; all injustice into justice. You will be kept busy enough perfecting your own life, you won’t have time to run other people’s affairs.”
Self-Belief and Personal Empowerment
- “All that you desire or require is already on your pathway, but you must be wide awake to your good to bring it into manifestation.”
- “The first start toward success is to be glad you are yourself. So many people are bored by themselves. They have no self-reliance, and are always wishing they were someone else.”
- “God’s gift to man is power; power and dominion over all created things. All unhappiness comes from lack of power.”
- “God appreciates me, therefore man appreciates me. Nothing can interfere with my divinely designed success.”
- “Man is an instrument for infinite intelligence to work through. It will express through him as success, happiness, abundance, health and perfect self-expression, unless fear and anxiety make a short circuit.”
- “If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. As you believe in yourself and the God-power within; fear and anxiety drop away. You establish the vibration of assurance. This is true of an intuitive person. Every move is made under Divine guidance and he never violates a ‘hunch,’ therefore, he is always in his right place at the right time.”
- “You may work very hard on the external and accomplish nothing, if you are without vision. Vision means to see clearly where you are going. To keep your eye on the goal. All men who have accomplished big things have done this.”
- “You cannot accomplish anything you cannot see yourself accomplishing.”
- “I have weapons ye know not of! I have ways ye know not of! I have channels ye know not of! Mysterious weapons, mysterious ways, mysterious channels!”
Spiritual Principles and Universal Laws
- “Be sure that the Divine plan of your life will give you perfect satisfaction. You will on longer envy anyone.”
- “Your part is to be a good receiver, prepare for your blessing, rejoice and give thanks and it will come to pass. I have weapons ye not know of, I have ways which will astound you.”
- “Overcoming means to conquer all doubts, fears and negative vibrations. One man with perfect peace and perfect poise, filled with love and good-will, could dissolve all negative vibrations.”
- “I am now immune to all hurt and resentment: my poise is built upon a rock, the Christ within.”
- “To succeed in any undertaking, any art or any trade or any profession, simply keep it ever persistently fixed in mind as an aim, and then study to make all effort toward it play or recreation. The moment it becomes hard work, we are not advancing.”
- “The law of laws, is to do unto others as you would be done by; for, whatever you send out comes back and what you do to others will be done to you.”
- “People who are manifesting the appearance of lack are in a state of fear and confusion. They are not wide-awake to their good and miss leads and opportunities. A peaceful person is a wide-awake person. He sees clearly and acts quickly. He never misses a trick.”
- “Very few people bring into life what is rightfully theirs. They live on the outskirts of their heart’s desire. It always seems too good to be true. To the person spiritually awake nothing is too good to be true.”
- “Do not look back and hash over hard times. Or you will be drawn back into these conditions. Give thanks for the dawn of a new day. You must be immune to all discouragement and adverse appearances.”