Jerzy Andrzejewski - I've seen men who thought they were brave turn out to be shameful cowards.

I've seen men who thought they were brave turn out to be shameful cowards. Other people, who thought they were capable of the utmost self-sacrifice, proved to be hardened egotists. And the opposite, too - cowards doing things which needed toughness and unusual courage..... What does it all boil down to in the end? One must judge a man by what he does, and not by what he thinks he would do. Until a man faces the test, he can deceive himself endlessly.

- Jerzy Andrzejewski

source: Jerzy Andrzejewski, David J. Welsh (1991). “Ashes and Diamonds”, p.81, Northwestern University Press

topic: Sacrifice, Men, Thinking, Shameful