Of all things that can happen to us, triumph is the most difficult to endure when we are alone. Deprived of witnesses, it shrinks at once.

Roy’s remark turns the usual idea of triumph on its head: success is not simply a private feeling but a social experience that needs recognition to feel fully real. Alone, the “triumph” loses scale—its emotional force “shrinks”—because there is no community to confirm it, share it, or translate it into a story that endures. The line also hints at the vulnerability of achievement: without witnesses, it can feel fragile, even doubtful, as if it might be imagined or undeserved. More broadly, the quote underscores a recurring modern theme: human meaning is relational, and even our highest moments depend on connection, not merely on individual accomplishment.