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.
compassion fallibility humility leadership
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About Shelby Foote

Shelby Foote was a 20th-century American writer, historian and journalist. Shelby Dade Foote Jr. was an American writer and journalist. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Leadership — Guiding others with vision, integrity, and purpose

More quotes by Shelby Foote

“Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience.”
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american-history american-society civil-war-narrative education

“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.”
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“On Lee as commander: "He had a cheerful dignity and could praise them (his men) without seeming to court their favor.”
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“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 b...”
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writing-life
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