“Among the words that can be all things to all men, the word "race" has a fair claim to being the most common, most ambiguous and most explosive.”

—  Jacques Barzun

Race: A Study in Modern Superstition (1937)
Context: Among the words that can be all things to all men, the word "race" has a fair claim to being the most common, most ambiguous and most explosive. No one today would deny that it is one of the great catchwords about which ink and blood are spilled in reckless quantities. Yet no agreement seems to exist about what race means.

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Jacques Barzun photo
Jacques Barzun 46
Historian 1907–2012

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