You missed the forest for the trees: > He was a bit pro-military for my tastes, but I hope you get the idea. I was trying to emphasize the point being made to

You missed the forest for the trees: > He was a bit pro-military for my tastes, but I hope you get the idea. I was trying to emphasize the point being made to you: the particular skills listed aren't relevant to the point of the need for general skills (the idea I hoped you would get) but instead relevant to all the people around the protagonist in the novel (which has a military slant due to the author). I'm quoting literature to show evidence that the debate is old, that was the entire point of my post; what am I supposed to quote except something that someone wrote? People like quoting literature for reasons like that: evidence that an idea is general, old and timeless, that our ancestors were grappling with the same ideas, that it isn't settled and probably never will be.