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 a looking-glass.
– James Allen
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thoughts he forges 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.
– James Allen
The aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” not only embraces the whole of a
man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of
his life. A man is literally What He Thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his
thoughts.
– James Allen
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
In the bark of your soul reclines the Commanding Master; He does not sleep: wake Him.
Self-control is strength; right thought is mastery; calmness is power. Say unto your heart,
“Peace, be still!”
– James Allen
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.
– James Allen
A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that 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.
– James Allen
Thought and character are one, and as a character can only manifest and discover itself
through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be
found to to be harmoniously related to his inner state.
– James Allen
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.
– James Allen
Calmness and patience can become habitual by first grasping, through effort, a calm and
patient thought, and then continously thinking it, and living in it, until “use becomes second
nature,” and anger and impatience pass away for ever.
– James Allen
Evil and weakness are self destructive. The universe is girt with goodness and strength, and it
protects the good and the strong. The angry man is the weak man.
– James Allen
Thou who adorest Jesus for his divine qualities, practise those qualities thyself, and thou too
shalt be divine.
– James Allen
By curbing his tongue, a man gains possession of his mind. The fool babbles, gossips, argues,
and bandies words. He glories in the fact that he has had the last word, and has silenced his
opponent. He exults in his own folly, is ever on the defensive, and wastes his energies in
unprofitable channels. He is like a gardener who continues to dig and plant in unproductive
soil. The wise man avoids idle words, gossips, vain argument, and self-defence. He is content
to appear defeated; rejoices when he is defeated; knowing that, having found and removed
another error in himself, he has thereby become wiser. Blessed is he who does not strive for
the last word.
– James Allen
You are the creator of your own shadows; you desire, and then you grieve; renounce, and
then you shall rejoice.
– James Allen
There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice, and 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, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance.
– James Allen
As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs
from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.
– James Allen
He only finds peace who conquers himself, who strives, day by day, after greater
self-possession, greater self-control, greater calmness of mind.
– James Allen
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 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
Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts inevitably bring
about right results.
– James Allen
You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your
thoughts take you.
– James Allen
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
The will to evil and the will to good
Are both within thee, which wilt thou employ?
Thou knowest what is right and what is wrong,
Which wilt thou love and foster? Which destroy?
– James Allen
I say this – and know it to be truth – that circumstances can only affect you in so far as you
allow them to do so. You are swayed by circumstances because you have not a right
understanding of the nature, use, and power of thought. You believe (and upon this little
word BELIEF hang all our joys and sorrows) that outward things have the power to make or
mar your life; by doing so you submit to those outward things, confess that you are their
slave, and they your unconditional master. By doing so you invest them with a power which
they do not themselves possess, and you succumb, in reality not to the circumstances, but
to the gloom or gladness, the fear or hope, the strength or weakness, which your
thought-sphere has thrown around them.
– James Allen
By the power of faith every enduring work is accomplished.
– James Allen
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.
– James Allen
The “divinity that shapes our ends” is in ourselves; it is our very self.
– James Allen
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
You will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love.
– James Allen
That which you would be and hope to be, you may be now. Non-accomplishment resides in
your perpetual postponement, and, having the power to postpone, you also have the power
to accomplish – to perpetually accomplish: realize this truth, and you shall be to-day, and
every day, the ideal being of whom you dreamed. Say to yourself, “I will live in my Ideal now;
I will manifest my Ideal now; and all that tempts me away from my Ideal I will not listen to; I
will listen only to the voice of my Ideal.”
– James Allen
And I may stand where health, success, and power
Await my coming, if, each fleeting hour
I cling to love and patience; and abide
With stainlessness; and never step aside
From high integrity; so shall I see
At last the land of immortality.
– James Allen
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit – and man is his own gardener.
– James Allen
Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.
– James Allen
A noble and God-like 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 God-like
thought. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued
harbouring of grovelling thoughts.
– James Allen
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.
– James Allen
As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.
– James Allen
Cease to be a disobedient child in the school of experience, and begin to learn, with humility
and patience, the lessons that are set for your ultimate perfection.
– James Allen
To the degree that you believe, you will achieve.
– James Allen
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.
– James Allen
Renunciation precedes happiness. The permanent happiness which men seek in dissipation,
excitement, and abondonment to unworthy pleasures, is found only in the life which reverses
all this – the life of self-control.
– James Allen
A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.
– James Allen
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
– James Allen
The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.
Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
– James Allen
People do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.
– James Allen
Before the divine radiance of a pure heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt away,
and he who has conquered self has conquered the universe.
– James Allen
To stand face to face with truth; to arrive, after innumerable wanderings and pains, at
wisdom and bliss; not to be finally defeated and cast out, but to ultimately triumph over
every inward foe – such is man’s divine destiny, such his glorious goal; and this, every saint,
sage, and savior has declared.
– James Allen
Whatever your task may be, concentrate your whole mind upon it; throw into it all the
energy of which you are capable. The faultless completion of small tasks, leads inevitably to
larger tasks. See to it that you rise by steady climbing, and you will never fall.
– James Allen
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
The dreamers are the saviors of the world.
– James Allen
He who comprehends the utter simplicity of life, who obeys its laws, and does not step aside
into the dark paths and complex mazes of selfish desire, stands where no harm can reach him.
– James Allen
Having clothed himself with humility, the first questions a man asks himself are: “How am I
acting towards others?” “What am I doing to others?” “How am I thinking of others?” “Are my
thoughts of, and acts towards others prompted by unselfish love?” As a man, in the silence of
his soul, asks himself these searching questions, he will unerringly see where he has hitherto
failed.
– James Allen
The man who thinks hateful thoughts brings hatred upon himself. The man who thinks loving
thoughts is loved.
– James Allen
He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. Doubt has killed more splendid
projects, shattered more ambitious schemes, strangled more effective geniuses, neutralized
more superb efforts, blasted more fine intellects, thwarted more splendid ambitions than any
other enemy of the human race.
– James Allen
The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth – that strength can
only be developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself,
and, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease
to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong. 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.
– James Allen
A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts.
– James Allen
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, weeding out all the
wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits
of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers
that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.
– James Allen
Whether you be man or woman you will never do anything in this world without courage. It is
the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
– James Allen
The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon
himself the sufferings, which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise garners his own
suffering and happiness.
– James Allen
A man does not come to the pothouse or the gaol by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but
by the pathway of grovelling thoughts and base desires.
– James Allen
Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abondoned state; but in his weakness
and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his “household.” When he begins to
reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the law upon which his being is
established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and
fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. 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.
– James Allen
Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.
– James Allen