James Allen Quotes

James Allen was a British philosophical writer known for his inspirational books and poetry and as a pioneer of the self-help movement. His best known work, As a Man Thinketh, has been mass-produced since its publication in 1903. It has been a source of inspiration to motivational and self-help authors. Wikipedia  

✵ 28. November 1864 – 24. January 1912
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James Allen: 47 quotes27 likes

Famous James Allen Quotes

“The dreamers are the saviours of the world.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals
Context: The dreamers are the saviours 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. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.

“When spirit rises and commands,
The gods are ready to obey.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Effect of Thought on Circumstances
Context: Be not impatient in delays,
But wait, as one who understands.
When spirit rises and commands,
The gods are ready to obey.

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals
Context: To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of gratification, and his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a condition of things can never obtain: "ask and receive."
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

James Allen Quotes about the world

“The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.
You will be, what you "will" to be.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Effect of Thought on Circumstances
Context: The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.
You will be, what you "will" to be.
Let failure find its false content,
In that poor word "environment,"
But spirit scorns it and is free.

James Allen Quotes about heart

“The visions you glorify in your mind,
The ideals you enthrone in your heart..
This you will build your life by…
This you will become.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals
Context: In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.
The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart — this you will build your life by, this you will become.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

Source: As a Man Thinketh

“The heart that sins must sorrow.”

James Allen

Morning and Evening Thoughts

“Love and grief our hearts dividing,
With our tears His feet we bathe;
Constant still, in faith abiding,
Life deriving from His death.”

James Allen

As reported in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 371

“He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals

James Allen Quotes

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Serenity
Context: The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

As A Man Thinketh (1902)
Source: As a Man Thinketh

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

Source: As a Man Thinketh

“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals
Source: As a Man Thinketh
Context: To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of gratification, and his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a condition of things can never obtain: "ask and receive."
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

“Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902)
Variant: Mind is the Master Power that molds and makes, And we are mind. And ever more we take the tool of thought, and shaping what we will, bring forth a thousand joys, or a thousand ills. We think in secret, and it comes to pass, environment, is but our looking glass.

“The human will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless soul,
Can hew the way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.”

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Effect of Thought on Circumstances

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