. . . People smile at the "enthusiasm of youth" -- that enthusiasm which they themselves secretly look back at with a sigh, perhaps unconscious that it is partly their own fault that they ever lost it. . . . Do not fear being considered an enthusiast. What matter? But pray for tact, the true tact which love alone can give, to prevent scandalising a weak brother.

Letters and Memories. 1842.

Be earnest, earnest, earnest; mad, if thou wilt:
Do what thou dost as if the stake were heaven, And that thy last deed ere the judgment-day.
When all's done, nothing's done. There's rest above -- Below let work be death, if work be love!

Saint's Tragedy, Act ii. Scene viii. 1847.