Spirit of the Stairway


This is a photograph that I took from a museum at Yerevan. The title of the post is based on the same notes from a French phrase.


People in France have a phrase: “Spirit of the Stairway.” In French: Esprit de l’escalier. It means that moment when you find the answer, but it’s too late. Say 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. Some deeds are too low to even get a name. Too low to even get talked about.

― Chuck Palahniuk, Guts

Discover more from The Border of a Mind

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading