Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord Chancellor from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.

Quotes

For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.
They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed, that even men for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than it is.
A little wanton money, which burned out the bottom of his purse.

Money
This hath not offended the king.
Why dost thou gaze upon the sky?
O that I were yon spangled sphere!
Then every star should be an eye,
To wander o'er thy beauties here.
Nay, tempt me not to love again:
There was a time when love was sweet;
Dear Nea! had I known thee then,
Our souls had not been slow to meet!
But oh! this weary heart hath run
So many a time the rounds of pain,
Not even for thee, thou lovely one!
Would I endure such pangs again.