As a Man Thinketh

2011 Facsimile of 1913 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software.
"Beyond the New Testament, the Old Testament and other books documenting the beliefs of the greatest religions of the world, there is one little book that impacted my life dramatically during my formative teenage years. The book is As A Man Thinketh, the most widely acclaimed...book written by James Allen, who might be likened to the Norman Vincent Peale or Earl Nightingale of the late 1800's." --- Denis Waitley, author of The Psychology of Winning, the best selling audio program in the world.
As a Man Thinketh is a literary essay of James Allen. The title is influenced by a verse in the Bible from the Book of Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
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.

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"

It is one of the bestselling books of all time.