The Little book to Help You Help Yourself

In the author's own words, As a Man Thinketh is a book that will help you to help yourself.

The result of meditation and experience, this little volume's object is to stimulate you to the perception of the truth that you are the maker of yourself by virtue of your thoughts, which you choose and encourage; that mind is the master weaver, both the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance.

—JAMES ALLEN

Writer's Note—The writer has put together a selection of quotes from James Allen's As a Man Thinketh—

Build yourself up in strong and noble thoughts.

Begin to use circumstances, as aids to your more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within yourself.

What is the dominating principle in the Universe?

Law—not confusion—is the dominating principle in the universe; justice—not injustice—is the soul and substance of life, and righteousness—not corruption—is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world.

Right yourself to find that the universe is right.

You are literally what you think, your character being the complete sum of all your thoughts.

You are where you are by the law of your being; the thoughts, which you have built into your character have brought you there, and, in the arrangement of your life, there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law, which cannot err.

Remember; thought rapidly crystallises into habit and habit solidifies into circumstance.

A particular train of thought persisted—be it good or bad—cannot fail to produce its results on your character and circumstances.

You cannot directly choose your circumstances, but you can choose your thoughts, and so, indirectly, yet surely, shape your circumstances.

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.

When the spirit rises and commands, the gods are ready to obey.

Disease and health—like circumstances—are rooted in thought. Remember that.

The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it.

Habits of thought produce their own effects—good or bad—upon it. Remember that.

Remember; 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.

Clean thoughts make clean habits. Remember that.

If you would perfect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind.

Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment and despondency rob the body of its health and grace.

A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.

As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into your rooms, a strong body and a bright, happy or serene countenance can only result from the free admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.

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 live continually in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspicion and envy is to be confined in a self-made prison hole. But 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 and to dwell, day by day, in thoughts of peace toward every creature, will bring abounding peace to their possessor.

Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment.

Conceive a legitimate purpose in your heart and set out to accomplish it. 

Make this purpose the centralising point of your thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, but, whichever it is, steadily focus your thought forces upon the object, which you have set before you. 

Make this purpose your supreme duty, devote yourself to its attainment, not allowing your thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings and imaginings. 

This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. 

Even if you fail again and again to accomplish your purpose (as you necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of your true success and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

You do not attract that which you want, but that which you are. 

Your inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. 

The divinity that shapes your ends is in yourself; it is your very self.

As the physically weak man can make himself strong through careful and patient training, so the man with weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.

To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognise failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly and accomplish masterfully.

You cannot directly choose your circumstances, but you can choose your thoughts, and so, indirectly, yet surely, shape your circumstances.

Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplish anything—and never can. They always lead to failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in.

The will to do springs from the knowledge that you can do.

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, and to dwell day by day, in thoughts of peace toward every creature, will bring you abounding peace.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is allied with power and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes a creative force—he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

All that you achieve, and all that you fail to achieve, is the direct result of your own thoughts.

Your weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are your own, and not by another; they are brought about by yourself and they can only be altered by yourself—never by another. Your condition is also your own—and not another. Your suffering and happiness are evolved from within. As you think, so you are; as you continue to think, so you remain.

Your suffering and happiness are evolved from within. As your think, so you are; as your continue to think, so you remain.

You can only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up your thoughts. You can only remain weak, abject and miserable by refusing to lift up your thoughts.

Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured and rapidly fall back into failure. All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual or spiritual world are the result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law and are of the same method; the only difference lies in the object of attainment.

He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.

Achievement—of whatever kind—is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought.

He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realise it. 

Columbus cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it; Copernicus fostered the vision of a multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it; Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of unspoiled beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into 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, 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.

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.

Ask and receive. 

Your vision is the promise of what you will—one day—be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you will—at last—unveil. 

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. 

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they will not long remain so if you but perceive an ideal and strive to reach it.

You cannot travel within and stand still without.

You too will realise the vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, for you will always gravitate toward that, which you, secretly, most love.

Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less. 

Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision and your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.

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 a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought. 

You become calm in the measure that you understand yourself as a thought-evolved being.

As you develop the right understanding and see more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, you cease to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remain poised, steadfast and serene.

The more tranquil you become, the greater your success, influence and power for good.

Stand serene above the storms.

That exquisite poise of character, which is serenity, is the last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul.

How many people you 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! 

It is a question of whether the great majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness with a lack of self-control. 

How few people you meet in life who are well-balanced, who have that exquisite poise, which is characteristic of the finished character!

Remember; 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.

Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. 

In the barque of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength; right thought is mastery; calmness is power. 

Say unto your heart, Peace, be still!

Writer's Note—

First, non-attributed 25 images—Frank Hurley's colour Paget plates of Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition to Antarctica, 1915 | State Library New South Wales

Next, non-attributed 27-39 images | First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 | State Library of New South Wales