Shelby Foote said this quote

Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience.

~ Shelby Foote

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

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

On Lee as commander: He had a cheerful dignity and could praise them (his men) without seeming to court their favor.

~ Shelby Foote