As a corollary, they (Greek intellectuals) believed that knowledge for its own sake was meaningless, its mere accumulation a waste of time. Knowledge… - Thucydides

(Pericles:) We ought not to be troubled about them (houses and lands) or to think much of them in comparison; they are only the garden of the house, the superfluous ornament of wealth; and you may be sure that if we cling to our freedom and preserve that, we shall soon enough recover all the rest.But, if we are the servants of others, we shall be sure to lose not only freedom, but all that freedom gives.

(Book 2 Chapter 62.3)

The goodness of the land favored the enrichment of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion. [5] Accordingly Attica,5a from the poverty of its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, [6] never changed its inhabitants. And here is no minor example of my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no correspondent growth in other parts.

The Athenians were the first to lay aside their weapons, and to adopt an easier and more luxurious mode of life;