And what, O Queen, are those things that are dear to a man? Are they not bubbles? Is not ambition but an endless ladder by which no height is ever climbed till the last unreachable rung is mounted? For height leads on to height, and there is not resting-place among them, and rung doth grow upon rung, and there is no limit to the number.

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.