Allen - As a man thinketh: classic wisdom for proper thought, strong character, & right actions

Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

T hought in the mind hath made us, What we areBy thought was wrought and built. If a mans mindHath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comesThe wheel the ox behind

If one endure In purity of thought, joy follows himas his own shadowsure.

THE APHORISM, As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, not only embraces the whole of a mans being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called spontaneous and unpremeditated as to those, which are deliberately executed.

Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things.

A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.

MAN IS MADE OR UNMADE by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.

BY THE RIGHT CHOICE AND TRUE APPLICATION OF THOUGHT, MAN ASCENDS TO THE DIVINE PERFECTION; BY THE ABUSE AND WRONG APPLICATION OF THOUGHT, HE DESCENDS BELOW THE LEVEL OF THE BEAST. BETWEEN THESE TWO EXTREMES ARE ALL THE GRADES OF CHARACTER, AND MAN IS THEIR MAKER AND MASTER.

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than thisthat man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.

AS A BEING OF POWER, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills.

M an is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household. When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the