“It was Pheidias who directed the making of the great golden statue of Athens, and his name is duly inscribed upon the marble tablet on the Acropolis as its creator. Almost the whole enterprise was in his hands, and because of his friendship with Pericles all the artists and craftsmen, as I have said, came under his orders. The result was that he himself became the victim of envy and his patron of slander, for the rumour was put about that Pheidias arranged intrigues for Pericles with free-born Athenian women, when they came on the pretext of looking at the works of art.”
Plutarch / Pericles

“As a result of these revolutions, there was a general deterioration of character throughout the Greek world. The simple way of looking at things, which is so much the mark of a noble nature, was regarded as a ridiculous quality and soon ceased to exist. Society had become divided into two ideologically hostile camps, and each side viewed the other with suspicion. As for ending this state of affaiirs, no guarantee could be given that would be trusted, no oath sworn that people would fear to break; everyone had come to the conclusion that it was hopeless to expect a permanent settlement and so, instead of being able to be confident in others, they devoted their energies to providing against being injured themselves. As a rule those who were the less remarkable for intelligence showed the greater powers of survival. Such people recognized their own deficiencies and the superior intelligence of their opponents; fearing that they might lose a debate or find themselves out-manoeuvred in intrigue by their quick-witted enemies, they boldly launched straight into action; while their opponents, overconfident in the belief that they would see what was happening in advance, and not thinking it necessary to seize by force what they could secure by policy, were the more easily destroyed because they were off their guard.”
Thucydides, 427-26 BC

“The Spartans made proclamation to the effect that the helots (slaves) should choose out of their own number those who claimed to have done the best service to Sparta on the battlefield, implying that they would be given their freedom. This was, however, a test conducted in the belief that the ones who showed most spirit and came forward first to claim their freedom would be the ones most likely to turn against Sparta. So about 2000 were selected, who put garlands on their heads and went round the temples under the impression that they were being made free men. Soon afterwards, however, the Spartans did away with them, and no one ever knew exactly how each of them was killed.”
History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides, 424 BC

“...For it is more disgraceful, at least for those who have a name to lose, to gain one's ends by deceit which pretends to be morality than by open violence. Straightforward aggression has a certain justification in the strength that is given us by fortune; but the other form of attack comes simply from the treacherous devices of an evil mind. To us these principles are of the utmost importance, and we are extremely careful to abide by them.”
Brasidas, 424 BC

“Perhaps I should say a word or two on the duties of women to those among you who are now widowed. I can say all I have to say in a short word of advice.Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you”
Funeral Oration, 431 BC
Pericles

“...lack of learning combined with sound common sense is more helpful than the kind of cleverness that gets out of hand, and that as a general rule States are better governed by the man in the street than by intellectuals. These are the sort of people who want to appear wiser than the laws, who want to get their own way in every general discussion, because they feel they cannot show off their inetlligence in matters of greater importance, and who, as a result, very often bring ruin on their country. But the other kind - the people who are not so confident in their own intelligence - are prepared to admit that the laws are wiser than they are and that they lack the ability to pull to pieces a speech made by a good speaker; they are unbiased judges, and not people taking part in some competition; so things usually go well when they are in control. We statesmen, too, should try to be like them, instead of being carried away by mere cleverness and a desire to show off our intelligence...”
Cleon, 427 BC

“Throughout the democratic party people approached each other suspiciously, everyone thinking that the next man had something to do with what was going on. And there were in fact among the revolutionaries some people whom no-one could ever have imagined would have joined in an oligarchy. It was these who were mainly responsible for making the general mass of people so mistrustful of each other and who were the greatest help in keeping the minority safe, since they made mutual suspicion an established thing in the popular assemblies.”
Thucydides, BC 411

“Alcibiades... on another occasion, he chose a woman from among the prisoners taken at Melos to be his mistress and brought up the child he had by her. People called this an example of his good nature, but in fact Alcibiades bore a heavy share of the responsibility for the execution of all the grown men on the island, since he had given his support in the Assembly to the motion which decreed this. ...Timon, the misanthrope, once saw Alcibiades, who had made a successful speech at the Assembly, being escorted home, and this time did not get out of the way or avoid him as was his custom with other people, but came up to him, took him by the hand, and said, “You are doing well, my boy! Go on like this and you will soon be big enough to ruin the lot of them.” Some people laughed at this remark, while others abused him, but there were others again upon whom it made a deep impression.”
Alcibiades
Plutarch, Roman historian

“As for the penalty of ostracism, this could be inflicted upon anyone who was regarded as standing above the common level in prestige, in birth or in eloquence. It was for this reason, for example, that Damon, Pericles’ teacher, was ostracized, because he was considered to be a man of extraordinary intellectual power. (...) This sentence of ostracism was not in itself a punishment for wrongdoing. It was described for the sake of appearances as a measure to curtail and humble a man's power and prestige in cases where these had grown oppressive; but in reality it was a humane device for appeasing the people's jealosy, which could thus vent its desire to do harm, not by inflicitng some irreparable injury, but by a sentence of ten years banishment. Later on the penalty came to be inflicted on various ignoble creatures, the scum of political world, and it was then abandoned, the last man to be octracized being Hyperbolus. (...) He made himself extremely popular with the men who were stealing the public funds by not investigating their dealings or scruntiizing them minutely, so that they proceeded to fill their pockets and praise Aristides to the skies and even, in their anxiety to get him re-elected, canvas the people on his behalf. But just as the voting was about to begin, Aristides rose and gave the Athenians a piece of his mind). ‘When I carried out my duties well and faithfully I was disgraced. but now I am throwing away most of your money to thieves, everybody thinks I am an admirable citizen. So far as I am concerned, I am more ashamed of the honour you are paying me now than I was of my conviction, and I am sorry for you, because you evidently find it more praiseworthy to pander to a set of rogues than to stand guard over the wealth of the state.’”
Aristides
“The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives”
Plutarch, Roman historian