Overview
Published in 1903, this brief but profound essay explores the power of thought in shaping character, circumstances, health, and purpose. James Allen argues that a person is literally what they think, and that the outer conditions of life are a faithful reflection of inner mental states.
Allen, a British philosophical writer, published As a Man Thinketh in 1903. The book is extremely short — about 6,000 words — and takes as its premise a verse from Proverbs: 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.' Allen lived most of his adult life in quiet poverty, writing from a cottage in Ilfracombe until his death in 1912. The book has never been out of print.
Key Ideas
Thought Shapes Character
A person's character is the complete sum of all their thoughts; noble thoughts produce a noble character, while base thoughts create a base one.
Circumstances Reflect Thoughts
You do not attract what you want but what you are; your circumstances are the outward mirror of your habitual inner thinking.
Vision and Ideals
Those who cherish a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in their hearts, will one day realize it; dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
Who should read this
Readers who want a short, reflective book they can finish in an hour and return to many times. Allen's voice is aphoristic and Victorian, and the book reads more like a devotional than an argument. It is best read slowly, one paragraph at a time.
Who might skip it
Skip if you dislike archaic prose — the gendered language is dated and the sentences sometimes ornate. Skip also if you want psychological specifics; Allen offers moral exhortation, not mechanism.
The verdict
A tiny book whose influence is out of all proportion to its length. Much of modern self-help is downstream of Allen, and his central claim — that you become what you habitually think about — has been re-stated a hundred times since without improvement. I reread the full text perhaps once a year, which takes under an hour.
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."
— James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
If you liked this
James Allen has many similarly short books (From Poverty to Power, The Path of Prosperity). For a modern spiritual voice with similar brevity, The Four Agreements.