“Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the laws. When it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the ability the man possesses.”
- Pericles(Speech given by Pericles at a funeral for Athenians killed in battle; Recorded by Thucydides)
“The man is by nature fitter for command than the female, just as an older person is superior to a younger, more immature person.”
- Aristotle(Writing of Aristotle about women in Athens)
"Ostracism is as follows: The Demos takes a vote..., as to whether it seemed best to hold an ostracism. When the response is positive, the Agora [marketplace] is fenced off with barricades; ten entrances were left open, through which they entered…and deposited their potsherds [pottery pieces used as voting ballots], keeping face-down what they had written...After they added up the results, whoever received the largest number, and it had to be not less than 6,000, was required to pay the penalty: he had to settle his private affairs within ten days and to depart from the City for ten years (though it later was made five years)…”
- Philochorus (Writing about the “democratic” practice of ostracism in Athens)
"So far as I am concerned, if you are angry with me, you are angry with one who has, I think, at least as much ability as anyone to see what ought to be done, and to explain what he sees, one who loves his city and one who is above being influenced by money…So, if at the time when you took my advice and went to war you considered that my record with regard to these qualities was even slightly better than that of others, then now surely, it is quite unreasonable for me to be accused of having done wrong…"
- Pericles (Speech given by Pericles during the Peloponnesian War about a change in the “spirit” of Athens; Recorded by Thucydides).
It may be said that they ought not to have allowed everyone in turn to make speeches or sit on the Council, but only those of the highest capability and quality. As it is, anyone who wants, a thief maybe, gets up and makes a speech, and devises what is to the advantage of himself and those like him. From such procedure then a city would not attain the ideal, but the democracy would be best preserved.
- Anonymous (“On the Polity of the Athenians,” c. 424 BCE)
“They defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth; till the barbarians…overwhelmed and buried the remnant that was left beneath showers of missile weapons.”
-Herodotus (Account written by Herodotus about King Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae)
“These are the royal rights which have been given by the Spartans to their kings—…the right of making war against whatsoever land they please, and that no man of the Spartans shall hinder this right;…and that when they go on expeditions the kings shall go out first and return last.”
- Herodotus (Herodotus. The History of the Persian War. Book VI. c. 430 BCE)
“An honorable death is preferable to a dishonorable life…everyone would be ashamed to allow a coward into the same tent as himself, or allow him to be his opponent in a match at wrestling.”
- Xenophon (Writing of the historian, Xenophon, about life in Sparta)
“…the soldier has a crimson-colored uniform and a heavy shield of bronze; his theory being that such equipment has no sort of feminine association, and is altogether most warrior-like…He further permitted those who were about the age of early manhood to wear their hair long. For so, he conceived, they would appear of larger stature, more free and indomitable, and of a more terrible aspect.”
- Xenophon (Writing of Xenophon about the “Spartan War Machine,” c. 375 BCE).
“For in the Spartan order the front-rank-men are all leaders, so that each file has everything necessary to play its part efficiently. In fact, this disposition is so easy to understand that no one who can distinguish one human being from another can fail to follow it. One set have the privilege of leaders, the other the duty of followers.”
- Xenophon (Writing of Xenophon about the “Spartan War Machine,” c. 375 BCE).