“So he died, because for a split second he got brave. But not then. He died much later, after the split second of bravery had faded into long hours of wretched gasping fear, and after the long hours of fear had exploded into long minutes of insane screaming panic.”

On Turner, in Ch. 1
Count Zero (1986)

Source: Death in the Clouds

Source: The Lonely Dead (2004), Ch. 21

Source: The Blind Assassin

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

The Odd Case of Dr Jenak, Ch. 24.

"The Gray Champion" (1835) from Twice Told Tales (1837, 1851)
Context: Long, long may it be, ere he comes again! His hour is one of darkness, and adversity, and peril. But should domestic tyranny oppress us, or the invader's step pollute our soil, still may the Gray Champion come, for he is the type of New England's hereditary spirit; and his shadowy march, on the eve of danger, must ever be the pledge, that New England's sons will vindicate their ancestry.

Source: Pnin