Jackie's hit on it, and she's right about needing context here, for it could have been "they" who were "vanquished inferior"--but it could have been an "it" (say, a concept such as freedom) or "she" or "he" who had been "vanquished inferior"--defeated as an inferior.

I don't know whether Churchill really said this--he was quoted in a grade-B movie I recently saw--but the phrase shows pluck:

"From failure to failure with enthusiasm."