I remember reading a story in high school lit class where a male character must do something dangerous and heroic to save his own, and perhaps other lives. As he takes on this challenge he repeats to himself a little mantra: nerve, nerve, nerve!
It has always stuck with me, and back in 2001 I brought it out as a rallying cry and thought it was from Leiningen Versus the Ants but a quick scan of tha tells me I'm mistaken. So what story did I read that had that mantra? I'm pretty sure I did not imagine this.