Ah! how little knowledge does a man acquire in his life. He gathers it up like water, but like water it runs between his fingers, and yet, if his hands be but wet as though with dew, behold a generation of fools call out, 'See, he is a wise man!' Is it not so?

He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire. Sir Henry Rider Haggard KBE (22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations predominantly Africa and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. His stories situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature continue to be popular and influential.