Definition of Prevail

Prevail

To overcome; to gain the victory or superiority; to gain the advantage; to have the upper hand, or the mastery; to succeed; -- sometimes with over or against.

To be in force; to have effect, power, or influence; to be predominant; to have currency or prevalence; to obtain; as, the practice prevails this day.

To persuade or induce; -- with on, upon, or with; as, I prevailedon him to wait.

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Prevail Quotations

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so.
Mark Twain

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas Jefferson

We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.
Maya Angelou

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
George Washington

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.
George Washington

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.
Samuel Adams

Man will not merely endure; he will prevail.
William Faulkner

I believe that man will not merely endure. He will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
William Faulkner

The truth does not require a majority to prevail, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is its own power. The truth will out. Never forget that.
Rush Limbaugh

Wise thinkers prevail everywhere.
Sophocles

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
Jimmy Carter

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.
Jimmy Carter

I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it's so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.
Jimmy Carter

It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
Samuel Adams

When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.
Pearl S. Buck

The progress of the American Revolution has been so rapid and such the alteration of manners, the blending of characters, and the new train of ideas that almost universally prevail, that the principles which animated to the noblest exertions have been nearly annihilated.
Mercy Otis Warren

The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre.
Helen Hayes

He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit, He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail in his suit.
Walter Scott

If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, is beloved of none but itself. Humility enforces where neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail.
Francis Quarles

I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail. I'm an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after.
Cat Stevens

The will to label will always prevail over what's being labeled, usually at the expense of either truth or understanding.
Boyd Rice

We respect opposition to any position or policy. But we believe that the opinion that should prevail and be respected is that of the majority.
King Hussein I

In my ideal world, no child would suffer. Charitable instincts would prevail. There would be global acceptance of all different types of people.
Clay Aiken

But if republicans are to prevail, if the peace process is to be successfully concluded and Irish sovereignty and re-unification secured, then we have to set the agenda - no-one else is going to do that.
Gerry Adams

Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.
Charles Caleb Colton

I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of kindness and compassion.
William Falconer

Never can the innate power of a work be hidden or locked away. A work of art can be forgotten by time; it can be forbidden and rejected but the elemental will always prevail over the ephemeral.
Stefan Zweig

In history, the moments during which reason and reconciliation prevail are short and fleeting.
Stefan Zweig

Cultural dominance of middle-class norms prevail in middle-class schools with a teacher teaching toward those standards and with students striving to maintain those standards.
James S. Coleman