--- title: "1 Historians Learned Quotes By John Keegan" description: "1 Historians Learned quotes by John Keegan. Plus more from John Keegan and more Historians Learned sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/john-keegan-14504_books_for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldier_2591431.jpg" --- > [“For our purpose, however, what the soldiers did or did not read is irrelevant. For, if soldiers did not learn to fight their battles from reading books, neither is it likely that military historians learned to write their books from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldiers-did-or-did-not-read-is/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/john-keegan-14504_books_for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldier_2591431.jpg) ## More by John Keegan > [We forget today that Britain still depends for its livelihood and, indeed, its day-to-day survival, on the sea. But the Royal Navy is now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/we-forget-today-that-britain-still-depends-for-its-livelihood-and/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [ Hitler ... lacked the \[inclination\] for anything more than the occasional sensational display of emotion, in particular the great set-piece speech which mesmerized the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/hitler-lacked-the-inclination-for-anything-more-than-the-occasional/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [The historian ought to be an educated person, writing for other educated people about something which they don't know about, but wish to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-historian-ought-to-be-an-educated-person-writing-for-other/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/it-s-a-necessary-quality-of-a-diplomat-or-a-politician-that-he-will/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [Visually Agincourt is a pre-Raphaelite, perhaps better a Medici Gallery print battle - a composition of strong verticals and horizontals and a conflict of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/visually-agincourt-is-a-pre-raphaelite-perhaps-better-a-medici/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [“The Second World War, when it came in 1939, was unquestionably the outcome of the First, and in large measure its continuation. Its circumstances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-second-world-war-when-it-came-in-1939-was-unquestionably-the/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [The Second World War is the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the world's seven continents and all it oceans.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-second-world-war-is-the-largest-single-event-in-human-history/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [“It is one of the many graveyards which are the Great War's chief heritage. The chronicle of its battles provides the dreariest literature in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/it-is-one-of-the-many-graveyards-which-are-the-great-war-s-chief/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [The Islam of the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century was a poor thing. Nobody bothered about it. Islam was that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-islam-of-the-18th-19th-and-first-half-of-the-20th-century-was-a/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [Well, if they are trying to kill you, on the whole they're the people you have to kill, aren't they?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/well-if-they-are-trying-to-kill-you-on-the-whole-they-re-the-people/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [“Less than twenty years after the end of the Great War, the ‘war to end wars’ as it had come to be called at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of-the-great-war-the-war-to-end/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [I think Americans like the practical; they like the human. And I like both those things myself, and I try and put them into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/i-think-americans-like-the-practical-they-like-the-human-and-i-like/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [“The ANZACs, clinging lost and leaderless to the hillsides, began, as the hot afternoon gave way to grey drizzle, to experience their martyrdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-anzacs-clinging-lost-and-leaderless-to-the-hillsides-began-as-the/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask that he must make for himself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/the-leader-of-men-in-warfare-can-show-himself-to-his-followers-only/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [“Rundstedt, revered throughout the German regular officer corps as its last archetypal Prussian, refused to deal with detail or to look at small-scale maps,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/rundstedt-revered-throughout-the-german-regular-officer-corps-as-its/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians-learned/john-keegan/#itemlist", "name": "1 Historians Learned Quotes By John Keegan", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For our purpose, however, what the soldiers did or did not read is irrelevant. 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Battles are extremely confusing; and confronted with the need to make sense of something he does not understand, even the cleverest, indeed preeminently the cleverest man, realizing his need for a language and metaphor he does not possess, will turn to look at what someone else has already made of a similar set of events as a guide for his own pen.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Keegan" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldiers-did-or-did-not-read-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/john-keegan-14504_books_for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldier_2591431.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/john-keegan-14504_books_for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldier_2591431.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/john-keegan-14504_books_for-our-purpose-however-what-the-soldier_2591431.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For our purpose, however, what the soldiers did or did not read is irrelevant. 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