Quotes from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. ”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts
and actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in
the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental
and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating—
and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances. ”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“To Desire is to Obtain to Aspire is to Achieve”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being. For such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees ever more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to fuss, fume, worry, and grieve. He remains poised, steadfast, serene.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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 of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be by 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, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“The thoughtless, the ignorant, and indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of law, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky is!" Observing another become intellectual they exclaim, "How highly favored he is!" And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!" They don't see the trials and failures and the struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heart aches; they only see the light and the Joy, and they call it “luck”; do not see the longing arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good fortune"; do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it “chance”.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“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, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pitying, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering are the result of his own mental inharmony.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the after-world, the architects of
heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived; without them, laboring humanity would perish.”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

“Act is the blossom of thought; and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and biter fruitage of his own husbandry”
― James Allen, quote from As a Man Thinketh: You Are Literally What You Think

About the author

Popular quotes

“He had said, "I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it. And yet it was this thing that made him a man, half insane and half god, and Juana had need of a man; she could not live without a man.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pearl

“Sir — Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?” “Obviously, you’ve just done so,” Dumbledore smiled. “You may ask me one more thing, however.” “What do you see when you look in the mirror?” “I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.” Harry stared. “One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”
― J.K. Rowling, quote from Harry Potter Boxset

“... a full moon shimmered over central Louisiana. This was no rinky-dink moon. This was a moon you had to curtsy to. A big, heavy, mysterious, beautiful, bossy moon. The kind you want to serve things to on a silver platter.”
― Rebecca Wells, quote from Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

“I incline to Cain's heresy," he used to say quaintly: "I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, quote from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

“Love is a one-way street. Love, like respect isn't something you get; it's something you give”
― Gregory David Roberts, quote from Shantaram

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.