This little volume (the result of meditation and experience is not intended
as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon subject of the power of
thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to
stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth
that--
"They themselves are makers of themselves"
by virtue of the thoughts which they choose and encourage; that mind is
the master-weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer
garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto woven in
ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.
James Allen

Thought and Character
The aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only embraces
the whole of a man's 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 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.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruit; thus does
a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect
are as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the
world of visible and material things. A noble and God-like 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 God-like 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 this--that man is the master of thought, the
molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment,
and destiny.