Thinking...

from Fear of Freedom:

The thought that is the result of active thinking is always new and original; original, not necessarily in the sense that others have not thought it before, but always in the sense that the person who thinks, has used thinking as a tool to discover something new in the world outside or inside himself. Rationalisations are essentially lacking in this quality of discovering and uncovering; they only confirm the emotional prejudice existing in oneself. Rationalising is not a tool for penetration of reality but a post-factum attempt to harmonise one’s own wishes with existing reality.