A French provincial pharmacist, Emile Coué was responsible for a therapeutic mind-over-matter system of "autosuggestion" known as Couéism that influenced the popular culture of the United States when, as in England, it became something of a national craze during the early 1920s. By daily repetition of its still familiar mantra, "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better," Couéism's adherents hoped to achieve health and success by positive thinking and the expectation of beneficial results. The most succinct definition of Couéism was perhaps Coué's own: "Couéism is an especial technique … for the teaching and application of auto-and other methodical suggestion. It is more: it is an attitude of mind directed toward progressive improvement."

Emile Coué

Coué was born of old noble Breton stock in Troyes, France, and attended pharmacy school in Paris before...