As a Man Thinketh by Isabel Richey

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jul 28, 1904

“As a Man Thinketh”

By Isabel Richey

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FATE. I build my life As men may build a castle, stone on stone; Whether I know or not, ’tis I alone Who fill my days with peacefulness or strife.

I have the power to think,—to choose my thought,— And as I think and plan, so must I act; Then doth the imaged thing become the fact— The phantom breathes, the miracle is wrought.

So, if I choose a life as pure and true As any saint’s of all the ages past, I need but think fair thoughts, and hold them fast; I need but plan and hope and will and do.

I am the sum of days that are no more; If one be darkened by an evil deed, I may not change it now, but I may heed And learn a lesson by the pain I bore.

I build my life, for failure or success— Just as I will. It rests with me to choose. God, give me noble thoughts; help me to use Only the stones which make for perfectness.

— Isabel Richey.