| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 12745 |
| QUOTATION: | If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French author, filmmaker. (Essay originally published 1918). Le Coq et l’Arlequin, Le Rappel à L’Ordre (1926), repr. In Collected Works, vol. 9 (1950).
Barabbas was the thief and insurrectionary leader reprieved at Christ’s crucifixion, following the custom at Passover. (Matthew 27). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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