---
title: "2 Old world Quotes By John Keegan"
description: "2 Old world quotes by John Keegan. Plus more from John Keegan and more Old world sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg"
---

> [“Less than twenty years after the end of the Great War, the ‘war to end wars’ as it had come to be called at the nadir of hopes for its eventual conclusion, Europe was once again gripped by the fear…](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/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg)

> [“In 1861, on the eve of the Civil War, Grant, aged thirty-nine, with four children at home and scarcely a penny in the bank, had made no mark on the world and looked unlikely to do so, for all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-grant-aged-thirty-nine-with-four/)

[John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/015/john-keegan-14504_children_in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-gran_2478539.jpg)

## Other authors on Old world

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-david-thoreau-41473.jpg) Henry David Thoreau 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/henry-david-thoreau/)

## 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/old-world/john-keegan/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Old world Quotes By John Keegan",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Less than twenty years after the end of the Great War, the ‘war to end wars’ as it had come to be called at the nadir of hopes for its eventual conclusion, Europe was once again gripped by the fear of a new war, provoked by the actions and ambitions of war lords more aggressive than any known to the old world of the long nineteenth-century peace.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "John Keegan"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of-the-great-war-the-war-to-end/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Less than twenty years after the end of the Great War, the ‘war to end wars’ as it had come to be called at…” — John Keegan",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“In 1861, on the eve of the Civil War, Grant, aged thirty-nine, with four children at home and scarcely a penny in the bank, had made no mark on the world and looked unlikely to do so, for all the boom conditions of mid-century America. His Plymouth Rock ancestry, his specialist education, his military rank, which together must have ensured him a sheltered corner in the life of the Old World, counted for nothing in the New. He lacked the essential quality to be what Jacques Barzun has called a “booster,” one of those bustling, bonhomous, penny-counting, chance-grabbing optimists who, whether in the frenetic commercial activity of the Atlantic coast, in the emergent industries of New England and Pennsylvania or on the westward-moving frontier, were to make America’s fortune. Grant, in his introspective and undemonstrative style, was a gentleman, and was crippled by the quality.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "John Keegan"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-grant-aged-thirty-nine-with-four/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/015/john-keegan-14504_children_in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-gran_2478539.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/015/john-keegan-14504_children_in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-gran_2478539.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/015/john-keegan-14504_children_in-1861-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-gran_2478539.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“In 1861, on the eve of the Civil War, Grant, aged thirty-nine, with four children at home and scarcely a…” — John Keegan",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/",
            "name": "Old world Quotes by John Keegan",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9a/john-keegan-14504_hope_less-than-twenty-years-after-the-end-of_830646.jpg"
            },
            "description": "2 Old world quotes by John Keegan. Plus more from John Keegan and more Old world sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Old World",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "John Keegan",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/john-keegan/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```