If you cannot pluck up bad ideas by the root, if you
cannot cure long-standing evils as completely as you
would like, you must not therefore abandon the commonwealth.

Do not give up the ship in a storm because
you cannot direct the winds. And do not arrogantly
force strange ideas on people who you know have set
their minds on a different course from yours. You must
strive to influence policy indirectly, handle the situation
tactfully, and thus what you cannot turn to good, you
may at least make less bad.

For it is impossible to make all institutions good unless
you make all people good, and that I don't expect to
see for a long time to come.

St. Thomas More, Renaissance English
Chancellor and Martyr (1478–1535)