misthinking

one of our troubles is plain and practical: we do wrong. the second is intellectual: we not only misbehave but misthink, not only do wrong but call it right. the third, of course, is strategic, for the second affects our efforts to cope with the first. our toils to rectify sin are themselves twisted by sin, our labours to shed light on iniquity themselves darkened by iniquity. no mind is unstained, no motive unmixed.

- jay budziszewski (the revenge of conscience)