A Self Help Flowers honorary profile on the English writer behind As a Man Thinketh, whose brief writing career produced a lasting philosophy of thought, character, purpose, serenity and self-mastery that still circulates more than a century after his death. SELF HELP FLOWERS • LEGACY TEACHERS • PHILOSOPHY • SELF-MASTERY By The Self Help Show Editorial Team • Self Help Flowers • Last reviewed: 10 September 2026 James Allen (1864-1912), English philosophical writer and author