As a Man Thinketh
James Allen 1903
This short book presents essays on how thoughts shape character, habits, and daily experience. It compares the mind to a garden that can be carefully tended or left to grow weeds.
28 pages 32 min reading time
- A founding classic of the self-help genre, still among the most widely read books on personal growth.
- Argues that a person's outer life (health, success, and circumstances) grows out of their inner thoughts, so changing how you think is the way to change your life.
- Argues that people are not victims of their situation, because steady, focused thinking toward a clear purpose builds strong character and real achievement.
- Helped shape the "New Thought" style of self-help writing that led to later bestsellers such as "Think and Grow Rich" and "The Power of Positive Thinking."
- Its core idea, that thoughts drive feelings and actions, is echoed in the motivational speaking and success coaching industries that grew up in the following century.
Title borrowed from the Bible
The title echoes Proverbs 23:7, which says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Written by the sea
Allen wrote it in Ilfracombe, a small seaside town in England, after leaving office work to write full time.
Short enough for one sitting
The whole book is seven short chapters, and most readers can finish it in about an hour.
Fame came after him
Allen died in 1912, and most of the book's worldwide spread came in the decades after his death.