the bigger they are, the harder they fall
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
The more powerful or prominent someone is, the more severely they will be affected by a failure or downfall.
Người càng quyền lực hoặc nổi bật, càng bị ảnh hưởng nặng nề bởi thất bại
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.
Common questions
What does “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” mean?
The more powerful or prominent someone is, the more severely they will be affected by a failure or downfall. Literally: larger objects have greater potential energy and thus fall with greater force
Is “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“trèo cao té đau” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.