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

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 men were killed at this particular action.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.

A fact is not a truth until you love it.

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 made.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens

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.