People in France have a phrase: “Spirit of the Stairway.” In French: Esprit d’Escalier. It means that moment when you find the answer but it’s too late. So you’re at a party and someone insults you. You have to say something. So, under pressure, with everybody watching, you say something lame. But the moment you leave the party …
As you start down the stairway, then — magic. You come up with the perfect thing you should’ve said. The perfect crippling put down.
That’s the Spirit of the Stairway.
The trouble is, even the French don’t have a phrase for the stupid things you actually do say under pressure. Those stupid, desperate things you actually think or do.
Quotations about:
comeback
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A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (1895–1983) American professional boxer ("Kid Blackie," "The Manassa Mauler")
(Attributed)
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Comment after his fight with Luis Ángel Firpo (14 Sep 1923).
“John has warned me that you are a jokester. Well, I am not. If we are to have any kind of successful association, you’d best understand right now that I do not enjoy humor. Whether or not successful.”
“Okay if now and then I enjoy a wry, inward smile if struck by one of life’s vagaries?”
Robert B. Parker (1932–2010) American writer
Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980)
