Quote by Theognis of Megara: “We are all the children of our own deeds.”

This proverb emphasizes personal responsibility, stating that our current circumstances and character are direct results of our past actions and choices. It encourages accountability for the life we create through our decisions and efforts.

Theognis often grappled with themes of fate versus individual agency. While lamenting societal decline, he also encouraged virtue and self-improvement, underscoring the profound impact of personal conduct on one's destiny.

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.