All Shelby Foote Quotes
- The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things... It was the… Bad
- North was only a direction indicated by a compass--if a man had one, that is, for otherwise there was no north or south or east… Brooding
- Generally the first week in September brings the hottest weather of the year, and this was no exception. Overhead the fans turned slow, their paddle… Air
- Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience. Any
- 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… Adversity
- People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is… Bare
- I've never known, at least a modern historical instance, where the truth wasn't superior to distortion in every way. Distortion
- People want to know why the South is so interested in the Civil War. I had maybe, it's a rough guess, about fifty fistfights in… Civil
- And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than punching a thing to find out how many… Action
- But the same thing was true in the army. You slept in a barracks with all kinds of people of every nationality, every trade, every… All
- I began the way nearly everybody I ever heard of - I began writing poetry. And I find that to be quite usual with writers,… Began
- Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was… Book
- I never cared what kind of grade I got. Cared
- I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen… Anything Mechanical
- A rich man's war and a poor man's fight... Fight
- A fact is not a truth until you love it. Fact
- I took five years on the first volume, five years on the second volume, and ten years on the third volume. Chance
- Most of my inspiration, if that's the word, came from books themselves. Book
- When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can't… Believe
- 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… From