“There are the girls we love, the men we look up to, the tenderness, the friendships, the opportunities, the pleasures! But the fact remains that you must touch your reward with clean hands, lest it turn to dead leaves, to thorns, in your grasp.”

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.