Quote by Theognis of Megara: “Hope is the only good god remaining among mankind.”

When the Greek poet Theognis looked at the world around him — corrupt, unjust, brutal — he concluded that most of the gods had abandoned human beings. Only hope remained, present in every person regardless of their circumstances. It is not an optimistic statement — it is the last line of defense.

Theognis lived through violent political conflict in Megara, including periods of exile, as the city struggled between oligarchic and democratic factions. His poetry was composed for performance at aristocratic symposia and is among the most personally raw surviving work from the Archaic Greek period — often tinged with anger and loss.

Greek elegiac poet from Megara, active around 540–490 BCE. His surviving poems, collected in the Theognidea, address topics of aristocratic life, friendship, justice, and loss with a distinctive bitterness shaped by political exile and social upheaval. He is one of the earliest Greek poets whose work survives in substantial quantity.