overzeal

Amid the too extreme deliverances of detractors and especially of erewhile friends, become detractors or panegyrists, who disturb judgment by overzeal, which is often but half-blindness, it is pleasant to come on one who bears the balances in his hand, and will report faithfully as he has seen and felt, neither more nor less than what he holds is true.

Robert Louis Stevenson: a record, an estimate, and a memorial 1871

Perhaps he would focus his energies on the far more practical reforms of military spending he has advocated, and the defense of civil rights against the threats inherent in the Patriot Act and other overzeal ous anti-terrorism measures.

Cleveland Plain Dealer (sort of) endorses Kucinich 2006

All the secret papers on board which were not wanted by the Embassy were destroyed, and Langsdorff was furious when he found that one overzeal-ous officer had burned the Action Report which he had written.

Graf Spee Pope, Dudley 1956

Silvia asked, a trifle diffidently, for she did not want to offend by overzeal.

An American Suffragette Isaac N. Stevens

The campaign was brought to an abrupt termination through the overzeal of O.C. Light C.r Patrol, who patrolled right up to Senussi outpost at the entrance to the Dakhla Oasis.

The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and 14th (F. & F. Yeo.) Battn. R.H. 1914-1919 David Douglas Ogilvie

Although it had been the boast of the royal family for a century that it could go about unattended, that its only danger was from the overzeal of the people in showing their loyalty, not since the death of Prince Hubert had this been true in fact.

Long Live the King! Mary Roberts Rinehart 1917

Not because mistakes are ever desirable, but because overzeal to select material and appliances which forbid a chance for mistakes to occur, restricts initiative, reduces judgment to a minimum, and compels the use of methods which are so remote from the complex situations of life that the power gained is of little availability.

democracy and Education : an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education 1916

Not because mistakes are ever desirable, but because overzeal to select material and appliances which forbid a chance for mistakes to occur, restricts initiative, reduces judgment to a minimum, and compels the use of methods which are so remote from the complex situations of life that the power gained is of little availability.

Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education John Dewey 1905

Penn, to be sure, in his youthful overzeal, had claimed exclusive and universal rights for Quakerism as “the alone good way of life and salvation,” all religions, faiths, and worships besides being

A History of American Christianity 1830-1907 1897

While they modify overzeal, they detract in no way from effective, even strenuous, endeavor.

Why Worry? George Lincoln Walton 1897