As a Man Thinketh
James Allen · 1903
As a Man Thinketh (1903) is a book by James Allen on personal growth & mindset. James Allen's slim 1903 classic argues that a person is literally what they think: thought shapes character, attracts circumstances, molds the body, and builds achievement, so mastering your inner thought-life is the master key to your whole outer life.
A century before "mindset" became a buzzword, this tiny book argued that character, circumstance, and even the body are the outward flowering of the thoughts we secretly cultivate, and that we alone hold the shears.
Two of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of As a Man Thinketh pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first two.
- A person is, quite literally, the sum of their thoughts. Character is not bestowed by fate but **self-made**, forged thought by thought, so that mind is the master-weaver of both the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance.
- Treat the mind as a **garden**: it will be cultivated or it will run wild, but it will not stay empty. If you plant no useful seeds, weeds of useless and impure thought will fall in and flourish, tending the garden is not optional, only its condition is your choice.
The other 5 — and the full 9-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 9 chapters
The whole summary runs about 9 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Aphorism That Anchors Everything
- Thought and Character
- The Mind Is a Garden
- Circumstances Do Not Make the Man, They Reveal Him
- The Suffering and the Blessing Within
- Effect of Thought on Health and the Body
- Thought and Purpose
- The Thought-Factor in Achievement
- Visions, Ideals, and Serenity
Finish As a Man Thinketh tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 9 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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