Ernest Shurtleff Holmes was an American New Thought writer, teacher, and leader. He was the founder of a Spiritual movement known as Religious Science, part of the greater New Thought movement, whose spiritual philosophy is known as “The Science of Mind.” He was the author of The Science of Mind and numerous other metaphysical books, and the founder of Science of Mind magazine, in continuous publication since 1927.
His books remain in print, and the principles he taught as “Science of Mind” have inspired and influenced many generations of metaphysical students and teachers. Holmes had previously studied another New Thought teaching, Divine Science, and was an ordained Divine Science Minister. His influence beyond New Thought can be seen in the self-help movement.
Some of the best quotes from Ernest Holmes are listed below.
- “All limitations are self-imposed.” – Ernest Holmes
- “All the power of the universe is with you. Feel it, know it, and then act as though it were true.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Any thought which tends to inspire, to comfort, and to give peace to the mind is good.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Begin where you are. It would be unscientific to begin anywhere else.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Believe as though you are, and you will be.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Blessing: Constructive thought directed toward anyone or condition. You bless a man when you recognize the divinity in him.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Change your thinking, change your life.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Drop all negative thoughts from the mind. Do not dwell on adversity but think plenty into everything, for there is power in the word. Meditate on the things you are doing as being already done – complete and perfect.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Expectancy speeds progress. Therefore, live in a continual state of expectancy. No matter how much good you are experiencing today, expect greater good tomorrow. Expect to meet new friends. Expect to meet new and wonderful experiences. Try this magic of expectancy and you will soon discover a dramatic side to your work which gives full vent to constructive feeling.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Faith is a mental attitude that is so convinced of its own idea – which so completely accepts it – that any contradiction is unthinkable and impossible.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Fear brings failure; faith brings success. It’s just that simple.” – Ernest Holmes
- “God gives some more than others because some accept more than others.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Gratitude is one of the chief graces of human existence and is crowned in heaven with a consciousness of unity.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Have the will to be well, to be happy, and to live in joy.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Heaven is within us, and we experience it to the degree that we become conscious of it.” – Ernest Holmes
- “If nothing goes forth from me than can hurt, then nothing can return to me that can harm.” – Ernest Holmes
- “It is done to you as you believe.” – Ernest Holmes
- “It is the nature of the universe to give us what we are able to take. It cannot give us more. It has given all, we have not yet accepted the greater gift.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Know that nothing can hinder you but yourself. If you believe you can, you can.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Let us waste no further time looking for the secret of success or the key to happiness. Already the door is open and whosoever will, may enter.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Life externalizes at the level of our thought.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Life is not just something to be endured. It is to be lived in joy, in a fullness without limit.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Like attracts like, and we attract just what we are in mind.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Love is within us. It cannot be destroyed. It can be ignored. To the extent that we abandon love we will feel it has abandoned us. Denying love is our only problem, and embracing it is the only answer. Through the power of love, we can let go of past history and begin again. Love heals, forgives, and makes whole.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Move forward, think only about your dream and never think about what you do not want.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Nature will not let us stay in any one place for too long. She will let us stay just long enough to gather the experience necessary to the unfolding and advancement of the soul. This is a wise provision, for should we stay there too long, we would become too set, too rigid, too inflexible. Nature demands change in order that we may advance.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Never limit your view of life by any past experience.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Nothing is too good to be true.” – Ernest Holmes
- “One who has learned to love all people will find plenty of people who will return that love.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Practically the whole human race is hypnotized because it thinks what somebody else told it to think.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Seek to make your work a prayer, your believing an act, your living an art. It is then the object of your faith will be made visible to you.” – Ernest Holmes
- “So plastic is mind, so receptive, that the slightest thought makes an impression upon it. People who think many kinds of thought must expect to receive a confused manifestation in their lives. If a gardener plants a thousand kinds of seeds, he will get a thousand kinds of plants: it is the same in mind.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Stop trying, stop struggling; begin to be calm, to trust in the higher laws of life, even though you do not see them; they are still there.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Teach and practice, practice and teach – that is all we have; that is all we are good for; that is all we ever ought to do.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The abundance you desire to experience must first be an experience in your mind.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The great spiritual geniuses, whether it was Moses, Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Jesus, or Emerson… have taught man to look within himself to find God.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The intellect is a cold thing and a merely intellectual idea will never stimulate thought in the same manner that a spiritual idea does.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The mind is a magnet and we attract that with which we identify the self. In order to get the most out of life we must learn consciously to change many of our habitual thought patterns. This is not easy, for our old thought patterns cling to us with great tenacity, but, being thought patterns, they can be reversed. If you are filled with fear, refill yourself with faith, for faith always overcomes fear.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The person who is to succeed will never let his mind dwell on past mistakes. He will forgive the past in his life and in the lives of other people. If he makes a mistake he will at once forgive it.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The thought of judgment, criticism and condemnation must, in time, operate against the one who sets it into motion.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The truth is true wherever you find it. Remember, sugar is sweet whether you find it in a sugar bowl or a dust pan.” – Ernest Holmes
- “The whole thing resolves itself into our mental ability to control our thought. The man who can do this can have what he wants, can do what he wishes and becomes what he wills.” – Ernest Holmes
- “There is a Power around you that knows and that understands all things. This Power works like the soil; it receives the seed of your thought and at once begins to operate upon it. It will receive whatever you give to it and will create for you and throw back at you whatever you think into it.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Think simple and clear and never worry for the visible or apparent course of events.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Thoughts of lack manifest as limitation. Thoughts of abundance manifest as success and happiness. Failure and success are but two ends of the stick.” – Ernest Holmes
- “To learn how to think is to learn how to live.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Too often, our minds are so burdened because of the mistakes we have made that we do not take the time to forgive ourselves and others and start over again.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Trust in your own self more than in all else.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Wake Up! Your word is all powerful.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We already live in a Perfect Universe, but It needs to be seen mentally before It can become a part of our experience.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We are all immersed in the atmosphere of our own thinking. This decides what shall take place in our lives.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We are chemists in the laboratory of the Infinite. What, then shall we create?” – Ernest Holmes
- “We can no more do without spirituality than we can do without food, shelter or clothing.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We cannot lead a choiceless life. Every day, every moment, every second, there is a choice. If it were not so, we would not be individuals.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We have within us, a power that is greater than anything we shall ever contact in the outer, a power that can overcome every obstacle in our life and set us safe, satisfied and at peace, healed and prosperous, in a new light, and in a new life.” – Ernest Holmes
- “We must be convinced that abundance is the natural state of the universe. To experience and accept abundance in our life, we must be convinced that as we conceive and believe, the universe handles the details.” – Ernest Holmes
- “What we need to do is to eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive. In doing this, we gradually acquire the habit of affirmative thinking.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Whatever the mind holds to and firmly believes in, forms a new pattern of thought within its creative mold, as whatever thought is held in the mind tends to take outward form in new creations.” – Ernest Holmes
- “When we conceive a new idea we are thinking directly from the creativity of God.” – Ernest Holmes
- “When you want to do a big thing, get the mental pattern, make it perfect, know just what it means, enlarge your thought, keep it to yourself, pass it over to the creative power behind all things, wait and listen, and when the impression comes, follow it with assurance. Don’t talk to anyone about it. Never listen to negative talk or pay attention to it and you will succeed where all others fail.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Where the mind goes energy flows.” – Ernest Holmes
- “With a penetrating vision you can dissipate the obstruction, remove the obstacle, dissolve the wrong condition.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Within us is the unborn possibility of limitless experience. Ours is the privilege of giving birth to it!” – Ernest Holmes
- “You are more than you appear to be – Life is greater than you have ever known it – The best is yet to come.” – Ernest Holmes
- “You can attract only that which you mentally become and feel yourself to be in reality.” – Ernest Holmes
- “You must maintain a close communion with your true center. Your creative power is not an act of will. It is, rather an act of your willingness to believe.” – Ernest Holmes
