Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context idiomatic English) To kick back (of an animal etc.) against being goaded 2 (context idiomatic figuratively English) to struggle against one's fate. (from 14th c.)
Usage examples of "kick against the pricks".
You show reluctance, kick against the pricks, and you might end up stoned again and deep in the ocean where you'll never be found.
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Aeschylus warns me not to kick against the pricks, also Euripides and I believe Pindar, and if I were to check the New Testament I think I would find the injunction there as well, and so I obey, I kick not, even when the pricks are fiercest.
To kick against the pricks and to count the days to release - that would bring no satisfaction.
To kick against the pricks and to count the days to release -- that would bring no satisfaction.
But, thinking about it calmly and logically, trying to overcome his preconceptions, he had concluded that he should not be upset, not kick against the pricks.