The Heart of the New Thought

The Heart of the New Thought is a book by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, first published in 1902. In a compact, plain-spoken style, Wilcox sets out the essentials of the New Thought movement: the centrality of right thinking, the practical power of optimism, and the idea that inner mental life shapes health, happiness, and destiny.

The book is arranged as short essays and aphorisms, with chapters such as “Common Sense,” “Wisdom,” “Self-Conquest,” and “Destiny,” making it easy for readers to return to particular ideas about thought power, positive thinking, and personal responsibility. Wilcox approaches New Thought with confidence but also with a wary eye toward simple-minded optimism, insisting that thought must be disciplined rather than merely sentimental. The result reads like early self-help written from a traditional moral outlook, blending practical advice on mindset and self-control with spiritual reflection. For readers interested in historical self-help, the law-of-attraction tradition, or turn-of-the-century metaphysical writing, this short volume remains a clear and useful introduction to the movement’s core claims.