L'esprit d'escalier

One of my favorite expressions is the French l’esprit d’escalier. It refers to how after having a heated conversation with someone the perfect remark always occurs to you as you descend the staircase on your way out.

I wonder where all those flashes of brilliance go, as they’re swallowed and left unsaid. I wonder if they lie in mental filing cabinets that people keep to remember themselves at their wittiest and most caustic.

Or I wonder if they sit in the pit of your stomach, burning a hole…like in mine.