Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4. Albany is the peacemaker here, as he tries to make peace between his wife Goneril and her father King Lear. He tells Goneril that while striving for improvement, we often end up ruining something that’s good. A moral and kindly man, he underestimates his wife’s capacity for wickedness and is slow to comprehend and confront this. The fuller quote here is: "How far your eyes may pierce I can not tell: Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well."