As a Man Thinketh
Encyclopedia
As a Man Thinketh is a literary essay of James Allen
, published in 1902.
from the Book of Proverbs
chapter 23 verse 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The full passage, taken from the King James Version, is as follows:
"Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."
The passage seems to suggest that one should consider the true motivations of a person who is being uncharacteristically generous before accepting his generosity - while in the title and content of James Allen's work the passage is in a different context; In the Bible the passage is referring to another person, and in James Allen's work the passage is adopted to primarily refer to the reader himself.
It is now in the public domain
within the United States
and most other countries. It was released the 1st of October 2003 as a Project Gutenberg
eText
edition.
.
The book opens with the statement:
Chapter 1 starts with the quote from Dhammapada
where effect of karmas is explained.
are loosely based on this book.
James Allen (author)
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...
, published in 1902.
Basis of the book
The title is influenced by a verse in the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
from the Book of Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
chapter 23 verse 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The full passage, taken from the King James Version, is as follows:
"Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."
The passage seems to suggest that one should consider the true motivations of a person who is being uncharacteristically generous before accepting his generosity - while in the title and content of James Allen's work the passage is in a different context; In the Bible the passage is referring to another person, and in James Allen's work the passage is adopted to primarily refer to the reader himself.
It is now in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and most other countries. It was released the 1st of October 2003 as a Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
eText
E-text
An e-text is, generally, any text-based information that is available in a digitally encoded human-readable format and read by electronic means, but more specifically it refers to files in the ASCII character encoding.E-text has the broad meaning of something electronic that represents words, a...
edition.
About the book
This book is written in terms of responsibility assumptionResponsibility assumption
Responsibility assumption is a doctrine in the personal growth field holding that each individual has substantial or total responsibility for the events and circumstances that befall them in their life...
.
The book opens with the statement:
- 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.
Chapter 1 starts with the quote from Dhammapada
Dhammapada
The Dhammapada is a versified Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is one of the best-known texts from the Theravada canon....
where effect of karmas is explained.
Quotes From As a Man Thinketh
- Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.
- A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
- 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.
- The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
- Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.
- Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.
- Right thinking begins with the words we say to ourselves.
- Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.
- You cannot travel within and stand still without.
- As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
- Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err
Influences
The lyrics to the song Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts by FunkadelicFunkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
are loosely based on this book.
External links
- Complete source of all James and Lily L. Allen books
- As A Man Thinketh PDF eBook - Free PDF download of As a Man Thinketh eBook (original classic text, easy to read layout, print ready format)
- James Allen Library — Read and listen to As a Man Thinketh and Allen's other works from the most complete James Allen site online.
- Project Gutenberg — eText of As a Man Thinketh
- Complete text online in paginated format
- Online Version of As a Man Thinketh (One chapter per web page)
- Top-rated online version Black Freighter Productions' free online version of "As A Man Thinketh" (entire text, professional layout, PDF.)
- Application in Life As a Man Thinketh - Applied
- Commentary on As A Man Thinketh from the book 50 Self-Help Classics
- A review of the core concept contained in the book As a Man Thinketh
- Free Audio of As a Man Thinketh