Original artwork, not a still
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The proverb has passed from columnists to coaches to presidents because it flatters the underdog: grit, not size, decides a fight. It gets pinned on whoever suits the moment, from Twain to Eisenhower to football players, which is why quote sites list it under many names. Griffin is one of many people who have repeated it.
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In context
May contain spoilersShow the scene
The saying is much older than Archie Griffin. Quote Investigator's trace finds it first in the April 1911 issue of the railway magazine Book of the Royal Blue, in a column of sayings by Arthur G. Lewis, reprinted that month in the trade paper Editor and Publisher. In 1929 a University of Washington coach, Hec Edmundson, used it at a basketball banquet, and President Eisenhower used it in a 1958 speech. Attributions to Mark Twain have no evidence behind them, and the trace does not mention Griffin.
Sources (1)
- Quote Investigator: It's Not the Size of the Dog in the FightFull articleReference checked
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