We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens.
Athenian statesman
From Thucydides' 'History of the Peloponnesian War', Pericles' Funeral Oration. While extolling openness, this statement also admits a vulnerability to enemies, which might have been controversial among those advocating for stricter security measures or a more isolationist foreign policy.
431 BC (approximate, as recorded by Thucydides)
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