bigger they come, the harder they fall, the

Idioms and Phrases

Persons in important positions lose more when they fail, as in Impeaching a President is very painful—the bigger they come, the harder they fall . This expression is believed to come from boxing and gained currency when boxer Robert Fitzsimmons used it in a 1902 newspaper interview before fighting the much heavier James J. Jeffries. It was probably derived from similar adages, such as “The bigger the tree, the harder she falls.”