A torn pale flag flies from a short brass pole beneath a stormy blue-and-gold sky.

Original artwork, not a still

Margaret Thatcher

Defeat—I do not recognise the meaning of the word!

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker refuses to give defeat any place in her thinking. Saying she doesn't know the word makes that refusal sound absolute. The claim expresses a fierce will to keep going, whether or not a loss can truly be avoided.

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