The author makes a plea for a reading of Winnicott's writings that searches for Winnicott's way of thinking besides searching for specific ideas and concepts. He addresses the question of Winnicott's language, which, the author suggests, may reveal itself at odds not so much with classical Freudian psychoanalysis, as is often purported, as with an entrenched and dogmatic attitude that reigned in many quarters of the psychoanalytic community around him. A parallel reading of his papers and of his correspondence shows that Winnicott avoided writing in a desiccated, formulaic fashion or in reverence to some leading figure in the psychoanalytic society. He rather opted for thinking his own thoughts and thinking the psychoanalytic experience anew.