On Earnestness
21. Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvâna), thoughtlessness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
22. Those who are advanced in earnestness, having understood this clearly, delight in earnestness, and rejoice in the knowledge of the Ariyas (the elect).
Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10: The Dhammapada and Sutta Nipata,
by Max Müller and Max Fausböll, [1881], at:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe10/sbe1004.htm