First attested in 841 in Du Mu's famous poem On the Pavilion by the Wu River:

勝敗兵家事不期，包羞忍恥是男兒。江東子弟多才俊，卷土重來未可知。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
胜败兵家事不期，包羞忍耻是男儿。江东子弟多才俊，卷土重来未可知。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

From: 841 (or 839), Du Mu, 《題烏江亭》

Shèngbài bīngjiā shì bùqī, bāoxiūrěnchǐ shì nán'ér. Jiāngdōng zǐdì duō cáijùn, juǎntǔchónglái wèi kězhī. [Pinyin]

Battle results are always hard to be foretold;
But to endure the shame is indeed brave and bold.
There's no lack of talents at River's East,
A comeback may be launched before you can know.

捲土重來

1. to stage a comeback after regaining one's strength

   • 項氏以八千人渡江，敗亡之餘，無一還者，其失人心為甚，誰肯復附之！其不能捲土重來決矣。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     项氏以八千人渡江，败亡之余，无一还者，其失人心为甚，谁肯复附之！其不能卷土重来决矣。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1167, 胡仔 (Hú Zī),《苕溪漁隱叢話》Second Collection, Volume XV

     Xiàng-shì yǐ bāqiān rén dùjiāng, bàiwáng zhīyú, wú yī huán zhě, qí shī rénxīn wéishèn, shúi kěn fù fù zhī! Qí bùnéng juǎntǔchónglái jué yǐ. [Pinyin]

     Xiang Yu initially led eight thousand young men across the Wu River, [advancing westward,] yet by the time he retreated to the riverbank after the tremendous defeat not a single one of them had survived. [Were he to cross back east and return] he would have completely lost people's support. Who would be willing to follow him again? It was absolutely impossible to make a comeback.