“There are men here and there to whom the whole of life is like an after-dinner hour with a cigar; easy, pleasant, empty, perhaps enlivened by some fable of strife to be forgotten - before the end is told - even if there happens to be any end to it.”

Polish-British novelist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Conrad wrote with vivid detail about the human psyche and the moral ambiguities of colonialism and adventure. His works, including *Heart of Darkness* and *Lord Jim*, explore the complexities of isolation, ambition, and the limits of human perception.