“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
When James Allen wrote that line in 1903 he wasn’t trying to be profound or stir up controversy, he meant it as a matter of fact. It’s something many are aware of, but perhaps we don’t believe it sometimes. Particularly when attributing things to outside circumstances.
As a Man Thinketh is basically the OG self-help book. At least, that’s the way I’ve framed it. Hard to believe it was written before the Titanic disaster, the first World War, the Model T Ford, the invention of the crossword puzzle, Charlie Chaplin’s first film, neon signs, and Mickey Mouse.
More than a century later, his words still feel strikingly relevant in a world obsessed with quick fixes and external validation.
It’s a short read and doesn’t waste any time in getting straight to the point: Your thought aren’t random, they’re the blueprint for everything, your character, circumstances, mindset, successes, failures, everything…
Reading it again, preparing to write this post, I couldn’t help but think how fresh it still feels. We’re living in an age that is in many ways unrecognisable from Allen’s time…life hacks, doomscrolling, AI, the world at your fingertips. But the book’s concepts cut through all of that. Why? Because real personal change comes from within, not outside forces.
In other words, my reality starts in the one place I actually have control, my own mind.
Below, you’ll find the 100+ most powerful passages from As a Man Thinketh, grouped by theme and chapter. Each one is a reminder that the quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives.
Thought and Character
“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
“As the plant springs from the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought.”
“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.”
“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.”
“A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking.”
“Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise than this — that man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.”
“As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation.”
“Man is always the master, even in his weakness and degradation; but in his weakness he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household.”
“Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul.”
“He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Effect of Thought on Circumstances
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears.”
“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.”
“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind.”
“By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.”
“Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.”
“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.”
“Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state.”
“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.”
“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, he becomes the rightful master of himself.”
“Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance.”
“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.”
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
“Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life.”
“Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.”
“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.”
Effect of Thought on Health and the Body
“The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed.”
“Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigour and grace.”
“Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts.”
“At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into disease and decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness and beauty.”
“Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought.”
“Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body.”
“Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet, and they are continually killing thousands of people just as surely though less rapidly.”
“The body is a delicate and plastic instrument, which responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed.”
“Men will continue to have impure and poisoned blood, so long as they propagate unclean thoughts.”
“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.”
“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.”
“A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.”
“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.”
“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.”
Thought and Purpose
“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.”
“They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings.”
“A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it.”
“He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts.”
“Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose, the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success.”
“Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear.”
“Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused, and resolution and energy be developed.”
“The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth—that strength can only be developed by effort and practice—will begin to exert itself.”
“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.”
“Having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left.”
“Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded; they are disintegrating elements, which break up the straight line of effort.”
“Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They always lead to failure.”
“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do.”
“Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge.”
“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.”
“Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force.”
“He who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.”
The Thought-Factor in Achievement
“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”
“He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
“A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s.”
“None but himself can alter his condition.”
“He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free.”
“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.”
“Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence.”
“There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice.”
“A man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans.”
“The higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success.”
“The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous.”
“Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought.”
“By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends.”
“Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness.”
Visions and Ideals
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.”
“The dreamers are the saviours of the world.”
“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.”
“As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers.”
“Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it lives in them; it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.”
“He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.”
“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.”
“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.”
“Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”
“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.”
“Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an ideal and strive to reach it.”
“You cannot travel within and stand still without.”
“In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.”
“Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort.”
Serenity
“Self-control is strength; right thought is mastery; calmness is power.”
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
“It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.”
“A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being.”
“The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others.”
“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”
“Even the ordinary trader will find his business prosperity increase as he develops greater self-control and equanimity.”
“The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.”
“Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life?”
“That exquisite poise of character which we call serenity is the last lesson of culture; the fruitage of the soul.”
“How many people we know who sour their lives, who ruin all that is
sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers, who destroy their poise of
character, and make bad blood!”
“Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.”
“Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, know this: in the ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.”
“Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought.”
“Say unto your heart, ‘Peace, be still.'”
Short As a Man Thinketh Quotes
“Calmness is power.”
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors.”
“Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.”
“Dream lofty dreams.”
“Right thought is mastery.”
Final Thoughts
Over a century later, As a Man Thinketh continues to inspire thinkers, creators, and spiritual seekers. Its message is simple yet remains so incredibly powerful over 100 years later: change your thoughts, and you change your life.
For more quotes and related themes, explore: