The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane

“The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle. He saw his salvation in such a change.” 

“He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.”

“So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed.” 

“He seemed no more to be continually regarding the proportions of his personal prowess. He was not furious at small words that pricked his conceits. He was no more a loud young soldier. There was about him now a fine reliance. He showed a quiet belief in his purposes and his abilities. And this inward confidence evidently enabled him to be indifferent to little words of other men aimed at him.”