How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too seriously with this question. In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about means and roads. But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself (1.43).
Henry must learn to understand himself as a soldier, not just as a man. His identity inside a battle is different from that outside of it.
Quote #2
He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were useless. Whatever he had learned of himself was here of no avail. He was an unknown quantity. He saw that he would again be obliged to experiment as he had in early youth. He must accumulate information of himself, and meanwhile he resolved to remain close upon his guard lest those qualities of which he knew nothing should everlastingly disgrace him. "Good Lord!" he repeated in dismay (1.47).
Henry here begins to see the difference between his expectations of war and the realities of it.
Quote #3
For days he made ceaseless calculations, but they were all wondrously unsatisfactory. He found that he could establish nothing. He finally concluded that the only way to prove himself was to go into the blaze, and then figuratively to watch his legs to discover their merits and faults. He reluctantly admitted that he could not sit still and with a mental slate and pencil derive an answer. To gain it, he must have blaze, blood, and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that, and the other. So he fretted for an opportunity (2.3).
For Henry, mental battles and worrying about his own cowardice are worse than what he faces in the actual battles. A lot like how fretting over that term paper is often worse than just writing the thing.