15 Quotes & Sayings By Shelby Foote

Shelby Foote was born in 1885 in Mississippi. He attended the University of Mississippi and then entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated second in his class and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Engineers. He fought in World War I on the Western Front, became a captain, and was awarded three Silver Stars for valor Read more

During World War I he also published two books, The Story of a Regiment and The War for the Lost Cause. In 1921, he became a professor of history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1925 Shelby Foote published his monumental work on the American Civil War, The Civil War: A Narrative , his first book to reach number one on the bestseller list.

In 1934 he published another great work, An Intimate History of Country Music . In 1940 he began working on the eleven-volume History of the American People . After leaving Vanderbilt in 1945, he spent the next six years writing three more books: The Age of Lincoln , The Age of Roosevelt , and The Age of George Washington .

In 1951 Shelby Foote retired from teaching and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where he continued to write.

1
Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience. Shelby Foote
2
A visitor asked Lincoln what good news he could take home from an audience with the august executive. The president spun a story about a machine that baffled a chess champion by beating him thrice. The stunned champ cried while inspecting the machine, "There's a man in there! " Lincoln's good news, he confided from the heights of leadership, was that there was in fact a man in there. Shelby Foote
3
He is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk but then insist on a stoical indifference to the fright afterward." Jefferson Davis's future wife describing him at first meeting. Shelby Foote
4
On Lee as commander: "He had a cheerful dignity and could praise them (his men) without seeming to court their favor. Shelby Foote
5
Right now I'm thinking a good deal about emancipation. One of our sins was slavery, another was emancipation. It's a paradox. In theory, emancipation was one of the glories of our democracy - and it was. But the way it was done led to tragedy, turning four million people loose with no jobs or trades or learning. And then in 1877 for a few electoral votes, just abandoning them entirely. A huge amount of pain and trouble resulted. Everybody in America is still paying for it. Shelby Foote
6
I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process. Shelby Foote
7
I think that everything you do helps you to write if you're a writer. Adversity and success both contribute largely to making you what you are. If you don't experience either one of those, you're being deprived of something. Shelby Foote
8
I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears. Shelby Foote
9
We have more to fear from the opinions of our friends than the bayonets of our enemies." Politician turned Union General Nathaniel Banks, in plea he couldn't abandon an untenable position. Shelby Foote
10
A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. Shelby Foote
11
Longevity conquers scandal every time. Shelby Foote
12
I'm crazy about Grant: his character, his nature, his science in fighting and everything else. But I don't like the idea that he never accepted the blame for anything, always found someone else to blame for any mistake that was ever made, including blaming Prentiss for Shiloh. Shelby Foote
13
I used to write sonnets and various things, and moved from there into writing prose, which, incidentally, is a lot more interesting than poetry, including the rhythms of prose. Shelby Foote
14
Of all the passions of mankind, the love of novelty most rules the mind. In search of this, from realm to realm we roam. Our fleets come loaded with every folly home. Shelby Foote