As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Note: I don’t review substandard books. I make time to read a lot, but I don’t have a lot of time to review books, so what I do share, I’m sharing because the book has been very influential and helpful to me in my life, and I believe it will also help others. If you want to become a thought leader these are must-reads.

Quick links/info:

• Buy the book >>
• My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
• The most quotable book, ever.
• Tags: Success, leadership, self-control, motivation.

How to know if this book can help you:

• You’re ready to grow up and be a responsible adult.
• You’re not brain dead.

Review:

Originally published in 1903, it’s not really a book, it’s more of a pamphlet, but it’s a good one. It’s so good it’s almost worth framing each sentence and putting the quotes on your wall. Here are a few examples:

“A 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. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”

“The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state…Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”

“As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the 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.”

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.”

“A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.”

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.”

Need I say any more? Go read it.