It is unjust, that their authors should enjoy a popularity which has injured the commonwealth, while the adviser of salutary measures suffers by a displeasure that may lead to general improvement.
From a speech urging Athenians to resist Philip, Demosthenes reflects on the unfair treatment of those who give unpopular but beneficial advice.
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I say, you must either desist from these practices, or blame none but yourselves for the wretched condition of your affairs.
If we admitted the truth of what would be your best possible answer, namely, that all you do is for honor and renown, I wonder what puts it into your head, that you ought from such motives to exert yourself and undergo toil and danger…
For the riches of a state I consider to be allies, confidence, good-will; of all which you are destitute.
Such is the truth, spoken with perfect freedom, purely from good-will and for the best: not a speech fraught with flattery and mischief and deceit, to earn money for the speaker, and to put the commonwealth into the hands of our enemies.
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