H. Rider Haggard Quotes

It is awkward to listen to oneself being praised, and I was always a shy man.

. . . when lost in a forest every path that may lead to safety should be explored

. . . the dead keep their wisdom to themselves

. . . all men are cowards . . . in one matter or another, though in the rest they may be brave enough.

. . . do not lie except when you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives are apt to cut their fingers.

My death is very near to me, and of this I am glad, for I desire to pursue the quest in other realms, as it has been promised to me that I shall do.

There is no such thing as magic, though there is such a thing as a knowledge of the secrets of nature.

The great wheel of Fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes us all in turn, some soon, some late—it does not matter when, in the end it crushes us all.

How true is the saying that the very highest in rank are always the most simple and kindly. It is in your half-and-half sort of people that you find pompousness and vulgarity.

I am not a nervous man in a general way, and very little troubled with superstitions, of which I have lived to see the folly.

Human nature does not change, Allan, and wine and women are ancient snares.

Those who go secretly, go evilly; and foul birds love to fly at night.

Altogether, a more miserable trio than we were that evening it would have been difficult to discover; and our only comfort lay in the reflection that we were exceedingly fortunate to be there to feel miserable, instead of being stretched dead upon the plain, as so many thousands of brave men were that night, who had risen well and strong in the morning.

We white people think that we know everything.

. . . they [the Walloos] are but the rotting stump of a tree that once was tall and fair. The dust of Time hides many such stumps . . . But what of that? Other fine trees are growing which also will become stumps in their season, and so on for ever.