EXTRACTS FROM AS A MAN THINKETH by James Allen

The circumstances in which a man encounters with suffering are the result of his own mental inharmony. The circumstances which a man encounters blessedness are the result of his mental harmony. 12

Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought; wretchedness, not lack of material possessions, is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed and rich; he may be blessed and poor. 12-13

Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and wisely used. And the poor man only descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot (in life) as a burden unjustly imposed. 13

Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and the result of mental disorder. 13

A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings. 13

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. 13

Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life. Righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world. 13

A man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right. And during the process of putting himself right, he will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him. 13

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. 13

Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstances… A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and the circumstances (of the man). 13-14

A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances… Nature helps every man to gratification of the thoughts which he most encourages. 14

The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combination of colours which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts. 14

Though walls of granite intervene, the human will can hew a way to any goal. 15 (paraphrased)