foundationstonestohappienesssummary

8/7/2019 FoundationStonestoHappienessSummary

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by James AllenFirst published in 1913

Cover shown: 2008,Wilder Productions

SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIPage 1

The True PathIf we live our principles, we will find

success in business and in life.

QUICK OVERVIEWThis short, well-organized book clearly came from James Allens heart and life,

and spilled right onto the page. Though some of his word choices date the book,written almost 100 years ago, the simplicity of his message shines into this day and

age. Essentially, Allen urges readers to apply the right principles and follow them from

beginning to end. He notes that we are in control of our thoughts and actions, and in

order to be successful in business, and in life, we need to be focused, compassionate

and balanced. We need to check and overcome all forms of prejudice, avoid speaking

evil of others, or listening to it, and follow the true and direct path, regardless of the

forces around us. He makes it sound easy, and maybe it is. After all, his simple wisdom

has survived longer than most of its readers will live.

APPLY AND ACHIEVEIts easy to talk about having good principles; harder to live by them. But they areat the foundation of a successful life. The best way to apply them is to start at the

bottom and work your way up to lasting success. According to James Allen, the ve

key principles are duty, honesty, economy, liberality and self-control. Of those ve,

all but liberalityare common buzzwords in todays society. But by Allens denitions,

we all have something to learn. For example, he denes dutyas minding your own

businesspaying attention to what youre doing, not what someone else is doing. Duty

requires giving undivided attention to the matter at hand. To practice honesty, you must

do more than pledge to tell the truth. You must also avoid insincere compliments, and

build a good reputation, which will help to build a good business. To Allen, economy

SUCCESS PointsThis book will teach youhow to:

Make choices based on

sound moral principles

Find equilibrium, even wthe world around you is

unsettled

Order your life so that yo

bring about good things

your thoughts and action

Correct and perfect your

mind, making it more

powerful and efficient

Foundation Stones toHappiness and Successby James Allen


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Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success

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ncompasses saving your own physical and mental resources

nd conserving energy by avoiding self-indulgence. By liberality,

Allen refers to being generous with thoughts, deeds, sympathy,

oodwill and money. And the last, which Allen stresses may be

he most important, is self-control. If, as a business owner, you

ose your temper with a customer over a trivial matter, you

re heading toward failure. Instead, practice patience, purity,

entleness, kindness and steadfastness until they become a part

f your character.

How does a man begin the building of a house?He rst secures a plan of the proposed edice,

and then proceeds to build according to the

plan, scrupulously following it in every detail,

eginning with the foundation. Should he neglect the beginning,

is labor would be wasted and his building would be insecure

nd worthless. The same law holds good in any important

work; the right beginning and rst essential is a denite mental

lan on which to build. It is wise to know what to do rst.

The businessmen who begin at the bottom achieve the more

nduring success; and the religious men who reach the highest

eights of spiritual knowledge and wisdom are they who havetooped to serve a patient apprenticeship to the humbler tasks,

nd have not scorned the common experiences of humanity, or

verlooked the lessons to be learned from them.

RIGHT PRINCIPLESThe rst things in a sound lifeand therefore, in a

ruly happy and successful li feare right principles. The

undamentals in all things are few and simple: yet without them

here is no knowledge and no achievement. The rst principles

n life are principles of conduct. To name them is easy. As merewords they are on all mens lips, but few have learned them.

These ve are among the simplest of the root principles of life,

ut they are those that come nearest to the everyday life, for

hey touch the artisan, the businessman, the householder, the

itizen at every point.

The rst of these principles is:

Duty. The principle of duty means strict adherence to ones

wn business, and just as strict non-interference in the business

f others. The man who is continually instructing others how

o manage their aairs is the one who most mismanages his

own. Duty also means undivided attention to the matter in

hand, intelligent concentration of the mind on the work to be

done; it includes all that is meant by thoroughness, exactnessand e ciency.

Honesty is the next principle. It means not cheating or

overcharging another. It involves the absence of all trickery,

lying and deception by word, look or gesture. It includes

sincerity, the saying what you mean, and the meaning what you

say. It scorns shining compliment. It builds up good reputations,

and good reputations build up good businesses, and bright joy

accompanies well-earned success.

Economy is the third principle. The conservation of ones

nancial resources is merely the vestibule leading towards the

more spacious chambers of true economy. It means, as well,the husbanding of ones physical vitality and mental resources.

It demands the conservation of energy by the avoidance of

enervating self-indulgences and sensual habits.

Liberality follows economy. Only the man of economy

can aord to be generous. The spendthrift, whether in money,

vitality or mental energy, wasted so much on his own miserable

pleasures as to have none left to bestow upon others. The giving

of money is the smallest part of liberality. There is a giving of

thoughts, and deeds, and sympathy, the bestowing of goodwill,

the being generous towards calumniators and opponents. It is a

principle that begets a noble, far-reaching inuence.Self-control is the last of these ve principles, yet the most

important. Its neglect is the cause of vast misery, innumerable

failures, and tens of thousands of nancial, physical and mental

wrecks. Show me the businessman who loses his temper with

a customer over some trivial matter, and I will show you a man

who, by that condition of mind, is doomed to failure. If all men

practiced even the initial stages of self-control, anger, with its

consuming and destroying re, would be unknown. The lessons

of patience, purity, gentleness, kindness and steadfastness, which

are contained in the principle of self-control, are slowly learned

The first things in a soundlifeand therefore, in a trulyhappy and successful lifeareright principles.


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Page 3 SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARI

by men, yet until they are truly learned a mans character and

success are uncertain and insecure.The ve principles are ve practices, ve avenues to

achievement and ve sources of knowledge. To know them and

receive what they alone can bring, he must do them, and give

them out in his actions.

SOUND METHODSRight principles are manifested in harmonious action, and

method is to life what law is to the universe. Everywhere in

the universe there is the harmonious adjustment of parts,

and it is this symmetry and harmony that reveals a cosmos,

as distinguished from chaos. So in human li fe, the dierenc

between a true life and a false, between one purposeful and

eective and one purposeless and weak, is one of method.

The false life is an incoherent jumble of thoughts, passions a

actions; the true life is an orderly adjustment of all its parts.

is all the dierence between a mass of lumber and a smoothl

working e cient machine. A piece of machinery in perfect

working order is not only a useful, but an admirable and

attractive thing; but when its parts are all out of gear, and re

to be readjusted, its usefulness and attractiveness are gone, it is thrown on the scrap-heap. Likewise a life perfectly adju

in all its parts so as to achieve the highest point of e ciency

is not only a powerful, but an excellent and beautiful thing;

whereas a life confused, inconsistent, discordant, is a deplor

exhibition of wasted energy.

One of the distinguishing dierences between a wise man

and a foolish is, that the wise man pays careful attention to

the smallest things, while the foolish man slurs over them, o

neglects them altogether. Wisdom consists in maintaining t

on their right relations, in keeping all things, the smallest as

as the greatest, in their proper places and times. To violate ois to produce confusion and discord; and unhappiness is but

another name for discord. The good businessman knows tha

system is three parts of success, and that disorder means fai

To achieve a life rendered sound, successful and sweet by

pursuance of sound methods, one must begin, not by neglec

the little everyday things, but by assiduous attention to them

The due division of hours for business and for play, not conf

the two, the orderly tting in of all the details of ones busin

times for solitude, for silent thought and for eective action

for eating and for abstinenceall these things must have th

lawful place in the life of him whose daily round is to procwith the minimum degree of friction, who is to get the mos

usefulness, inuence and joy out of life.

To sum up, method produces that smoothness which goes

with strength and e ciency. Discipline is method applied to

the mind. It produces that calmness which goes with power

and happiness. Method is working by rule; discipline is livin

by rule. But working and living are not separate; they are bu

two aspects of character, of life. Therefore, be orderly in wo

be accurate in speech, be logical in thought. Between these

and slovenliness, inaccuracy and confusion, is the dierence

How to Identify and CreateTrue Actions

Focus on details of conduct to gather insight1.about your path.

As you learn your path, you will be able to travel2.

on it without being bothered by others opinions,ignorance or ungoverned passion.

In all forms of progress, it is necessary to avoid3.

the bad in order to learn to gain acceptance andknowledge of the good.

Bad or untrue actions are those that spring from4.a consideration of only your own happiness.

Good or true actions spring from a consideration5.of others.

Avoid acts of personal pleasure that annoy or6.

hurt others.

Do not speak or act in anger, envy or7.resentment.

Dont do anything you need to hide from others.8.

Thoughtlessness is a crime.9.

Thoughtfulness embraces wisdom.10.

True actions can only spring from a true mind.11.


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etween success and failure, music and discord, happiness

nd misery.

TRUE ACTIONSTrue actions may easily be distinguished from false. As in

he material world we distinguish things by their form, color,

ize, etc., so in the spiritual world of deeds, we can distinguish

etween those that are bad and those that are good by their

ature, their aim and their eect and can choose and adopt those

hat are good, and ignore those that are bad.The carrying out of this principle of honesty and sincerity

f action, too, will further lead him into such a path of

houghtfulness in right-doing as will enable him to avoid doing

hose things which would involve him in the deceptive practices

f other people. Before signing papers, or entering into verbal or

written arrangements, or engaging himself to others in any way at

heir request, particularly if they be strangers, he will rst inquire

nto the nature of the work or undertaking, and so, enlightened,

e will know exactly what to do, and will be fully aware of the

mport of his action.

It is not enough that an action is prompted by a good impulse orntention; it must arise in thoughtful consideration if it is to be a

rue action; and the man who wishes to be permanently happy in

imself and a power for good to others must concern himself only

with true actions.

TRUE SPEECHTruth is known by practice only. Without sincerity there can

e no knowledge of truth; and true speech is the beginning of

ll sincerity. Truth in all its native beauty and original simplicity

onsists in abandoning and not doing all those things which arentrue, and in embracing and doing all those things which are

rue. True speech is therefore one of the elementary beginnings

n the life of truth. Falsehood, and all forms of deception; slander

nd all forms of evil-speakingthese must be totally abandoned

nd abolished before the mind can receive even a small degree of

piritual enlightenment. The evil-speaker is a positive slanderer;

he evil-listener is a passive slanderer. The two are co-operators in

he propagation of evil.

Let the would-be student of higher things look to himself

nd beware of self-delusion. For the higher things are

theseuprightness, sincerity, innocence, purity, kindness,

gentleness, faithfulness, humility, patience, pity, sympathy, self-

sacrice, joy, goodwill, loveand he who would study them,

know them and make them his own, must practice them; there is

no other way.

True speech is the beginning of a pure, wise and well-ordered

life. If one would attain to the purity of life, if he would lessen

the evil and suering of the world, let him abandon falsehood and

slander in thought and word, let him avoid even the appearance

How to Identify and CreateTrue SpeechTruth is known by practice only.

Without sincerity there can be no knowledge

of truth.

To be true means to abandon all things which are

untrue and to embrace all that is true.

Falsehood, including speaking or listening to

slander, must be totally abandoned before the mind

can be spiritually enlightened.

Beware of self-delusion.

The higher things include uprightness, sincerity,

innocence, purity, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness,

humility, patience, pity, sympathy, self-sacrice, joy,

goodwill and love.

True speech is the beginning of a pure and well-

ordered life.

The virtuous man cannot be injured or disturbed

about evil reports about himself. His integrity is not

affected, nor is his character soiled. The evil doings

of others cannot stain him.

The virtuous man has compassion for those who

speak evil, since by doing so they are binding

themselves to suffering.


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SUCCESS.com SUCCESS BOOK SUMMARIPage 5

of these things, for there are no lies and no slanders so deadly as

those which are half-truths, and let him not be a participant in

evil-speaking by listening to it.

EQUAL-MINDEDNESSTo be equally-minded is to be peacefully-minded, for a man

cannot be said to have arrived at peace who allows his mind to

be disturbed and thrown o the balance by occurrences. The

partisan is so convinced that his own opinion and his own side is

right, and all that goes contrary to them is wrong, that he cannot

think there is any good in the other opinion and the other side.

He lives in a continual fever of attack and defense, and has no

knowledge of the quiet peace of an equal mind.

The equal-minded man watches himself in order to checkand overcome even the appearance of passion and prejudice in

his mind, and by so doing he develops sympathy for others, and

comes to understand their position and particular state of mind;

and as he comes to understand others, he perceives the folly of

condemning them and opposing himself to them. Thus there

grows up in his heart a divine charity which cannot be limited,

but which is extended to all things that live and strive and suer.

The occurrences of life do not trouble him, nor does he grieve

over those things which are regarded by mankind as grievous, but

which must befall all men in the ordinary course of nature. He is

neither elated by success nor cast down by failure.

GOOD RESULTSDeeper thought, and a clearer insight into life convinces us,

however, that nothing happens without a cause, and that cause

and eect are always related in perfect adjustment and harmony.

We reap as we sow. Those things which come to us, though not

by our own choosing, are by our causing. Within ourselves is the

deep-seated cause of all of our suerings, the spring of all of our

joys. Alter the inner world of our thoughts, and the other world

of events will cease to bring you sorrow; make the heart pure

and to you all things will be pure, all occurrences happy and

true order.

Our life is good or bad, enslaved or free, according to its

causation in our thoughts, for out of these thoughts spring all

deeds, and from these deeds come equitable results. We cann

seize good relationships violently, like a thief, and claim and e

them, but we can bring them to pass by, setting in motion the

causes within ourselves. Men strive for money, sigh for happin

and would gladly possess wisdom, yet fail to secure these thin

while they see others to whom these blessings appear unbiddeThe doer of true actions, who pursues sound methods, groun

on right principles will not need to strive and struggle for goo

results; they will be there as the eects of his righteous rule o

life. The truth of sowing and reaping in the moral sphere is a

simple one, yet men are slow to understand and accept it.

If we observe right principles, or causes, wrong eects can

possibly accrue. If we pursue sound methods, no shoddy thre

can nd its way into the web of our life, no rotten brick enter

the building of our character to render it insecure, and if we

true actions, what but good results can come to pass; for to sa

that good causes can produce bad eects is to say that nettles be reaped from the sowing of corn.

He who orders his life along the moral lines thus briey

enunciated will attain to such a state of insight and equilibriu

as to render him permanently happy and perennially glad; all

his eorts will be seasonally planted; all the issues of his life

will be good, and though he may not become a millionaire as

indeed he will have no desire to become suchhe will acquir

the gift of peace, and true success will wait upon him as its

commanding master.

The businessmen who begin atthe bottom achieve the moreenduring success.


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2010 SUCCESS Media. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in partin any form without prior written permission. Published by SUCCESS Media, 200 Swisher Rd.,Lake Dallas, TX 75065, USA. SUCCESS.com.

Foundation Stones to Happiness and Successwas published in 1913 and is consideredpublic domain. Cover shown: 2008, Wilder Productions.

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ACTION STEPSGet more out of this SUCCESS Book Summaryby putting what youve learned into action.Below are a few thoughts and questions tohelp you get started:

We reap what we sow, either by our choosing or by our1.causing. Are you ready to harness your thoughts to

bring about change in your life?

An equal-minded man is neither elated by success2.nor cast down by failure. He sees the events of lifein their proper proportion. Are the events of your life

in proportion?

Constructing a house requires a detailed plan, and3.

that plan must be closely followed. Take a few minutesto imagine your life as a house. How well has it been

constructed?

Allen writes that we must avoid acts of pleasure which4.

bring about annoyance or pain to others, no matter howinsignificant these acts may be. How would your life be

changed if you lived by his advice?

Allen writes that a businessman who loses his temper with5.

a customer over a trivial matter is a man who is doomedto failure because he lacks self-control. Think about how

this applies to your life and your interactions with others,both personally and professionally.

Even if you avoid speaking evil of others, you are still guilty6.of slander if you listen to others idle gossip. For one day,

avoid doing either one and see how you feel at the end ofthe day.

It is easy to be influenced by anothers opinions of7.

ourselves or our actions. Determine to be guided by yourown internal forces.

About the Author

Nearly 100 years after his death, little is known about the

man one biographer refers to as the literary mystery man.

James Allen wrote 19 philosophical and inspirational books

during his relatively short life, and didnt even live long enough

to see them all published. He was born in England in 1864 and

died there 48 years later. His life was almost certainly marked

by the departure of his father for the United States when James

was a teenager. The elder Allen was robbed and murdered.

That tragedy required James to begin working as a professional

secretary at the age of 15. After being inspired by the writings

of Leo Tolstoy, Allen began, while already in his 30s, to write his

own books. In the preface to Foundation Stones to Happiness

and Success, which was published by his wife after his death,

she wrote, He wrote when he had a message, and it became a

message only when he had lived it out in his own life, and knew

that it was good.

f you enjoyed this summary ofFoundation Stones to

Happiness and Success, you may also like:

Thoughts Are Things by Prentice Mulford

Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier

Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend

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