get big or get out

English

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get big or get out

Where it comes from

Popularized by (and perhaps coined by) Earl Butz, a U.S. secretary of agriculture in the 1970s.

phrase

An exhortation and admonition to family farms as businesses, or to other businesses in other industries, that they need to either expand their operations and capitalization or be outcompeted (by those who do so) and thus go out of business.

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MLA

"get big or get out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

get big or get out. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out

Chicago

"get big or get out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out.

BibTeX

@misc{get_big_or_get_out_2026,
  title = {get big or get out},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}