---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's far more difficult to disfigure a…"
description: "\"“It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art than to create one.”\" — Marcel Proust"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg"
---

#  It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art…

![“It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art than to create one.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg)

> ““It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art than to create one.””

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Creating great art is easier than deliberately damaging it; the former requires inspiration, the latter requires malice.

**In simple terms:** Damaging art is harder than making it.

Key Takeaway

Respect creative effort.

Themes

art creation destruction ethics integrity

Mood

thoughtful critical

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- museum curation
- art criticism
- restoration
- political propaganda

Key Concepts

aesthetics philosophy creative process

Questions to Reflect On

- What responsibilities do creators have to protect their work?
- When is alteration justified?

A Different Perspective

It may ignore that some art is intentionally provocative.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Create](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-create-251451/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Difficult Disfigure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult-disfigure-5683992/) [Disfigure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disfigure-3572345/) [Disfigure Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disfigure-great-5683993/)

## Related quotes

> [“Sometimes we disfigure ourselves by what we think about ourselves rather than by what we do to ourselves. Some people have been disfigured emotionally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-norman-wright/sometimes-we-disfigure-ourselves-by-what-we-think-about-ourselves/)

[H. Norman Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-norman-wright/)

> [The aim of art is to create space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-stella/the-aim-of-art-is-to-create-space/)

[Frank Stella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-stella/)

> [Your life can become the background for the art you create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-keys/your-life-can-become-the-background-for-the-art-you-create/)

[Alicia Keys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-keys/)

> [The purpose of Art is to create enthusiasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-purpose-of-art-is-to-create-enthusiasm/)

[Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/)

> [There is some other form that you contain within yourself that is not will or purpose and, when applied to art, serves you best.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-resnick/there-is-some-other-form-that-you-contain-within-yourself-that-is-not/)

[Milton Resnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-resnick/)

> [“Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/every-day-i-meet-people-who-have-so-much-to-give-but-have-been-2/)

[Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/)

> [You have to be very careful with the art you create and you put out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kat-graham/you-have-to-be-very-careful-with-the-art-you-create-and-you-put-out/)

[Kat Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kat-graham/)

> [The effort to create a work of art that is true and potentially lasting, that is the very best work of art you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/the-effort-to-create-a-work-of-art-that-is-true-and-potentially/)

[Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/)

> [With music and art, I can create the kind of world in which I wish to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-curiale/with-music-and-art-i-can-create-the-kind-of-world-in-which-i-wish-to/)

[Joseph Curiale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-curiale/)

> [That's what art is about: to create dialogue. Everybody deserves to have their own opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tierra-whack/that-s-what-art-is-about-to-create-dialogue-everybody-deserves-to/)

[Tierra Whack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tierra-whack/)

> [It's a blessing to have people who love the art that you make and who are inspired by the art you create and are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ramos/it-s-a-blessing-to-have-people-who-love-the-art-that-you-make-and-who/)

[Anthony Ramos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ramos/)

> [Art should create an experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-fischl/art-should-create-an-experience/)

[Eric Fischl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-fischl/)

> [Through art, you create your own world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-guinness/through-art-you-create-your-own-world/)

[Daphne Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-guinness/)

> [“Art is the process of relationship. Through art we create and share ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/destiny-allison/art-is-the-process-of-relationship-through-art-we-create-and-share/)

[Destiny Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/destiny-allison/)

> [To create a work of art is to create the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wassily-kandinsky/to-create-a-work-of-art-is-to-create-the-world/)

[Wassily Kandinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wassily-kandinsky/)

## More by Marcel Proust

> [“machinery' of life at Versailles; and was able, too, to persuade herself that her silence, a shade of good humour or of arrogance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/machinery-of-life-at-versailles-and-was-able-too-to-persuade-herself/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [ “For her \[Françoise\], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-necessary-condition-without-which/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [Death is in truth an illness from which we recover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/death-is-in-truth-an-illness-from-which-we-recover/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-that-unite-another-person-to-our-self-exist-only-in-our-mind/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-writer-s-works-like-the-water-in-an-artesian-well-mount-to-a-height/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“Then from those profound slumbers we awake in a dawn, not knowing who we are, being nobody, newly born, ready for anything, the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/then-from-those-profound-slumbers-we-awake-in-a-dawn-not-knowing-who/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“Art extracted from the most familiar reality does indeed exist and its domain is perhaps the largest of any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/art-extracted-from-the-most-familiar-reality-does-indeed-exist-and/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-find-very-reasonable-the-celtic-belief-that-the-souls-of-our-dearly/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“When you heard anyone in the middle of a talk which was being deliberately kept off the Affair announce furtively some piece of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-you-heard-anyone-in-the-middle-of-a-talk-which-was-being/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“We betroth ourselves by proxy, and then feel obliged to marry the intermediary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/we-betroth-ourselves-by-proxy-and-then-feel-obliged-to-marry-the/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“But the old lady on the contrary, far from justifying her daughter’s fears, felt every time someone of her own age “disappeared” that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-old-lady-on-the-contrary-far-from-justifying-her-daughter-s/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/often-it-is-just-lack-of-imagination-that-keeps-a-man-from-suffering/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-nice-to-others-we-generally-lose-all-claim-to-their/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“Nobility is often no more than the inner aspect which our egotistical feelings assume when we have not yet named and classified them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/nobility-is-often-no-more-than-the-inner-aspect-which-our-egotistical/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

[Explore all 1,113 Marcel Proust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

## More Art quotes

> [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/)

[Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/)

> [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/)

[Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/)

> [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/)

[Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/)

> [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/)

[Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/)

> [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/)

[Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/)

> [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/)

[Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/)

> [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/)

[Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/)

> [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/)

[Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/)

> [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/)

[Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/)

> [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/)

[Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/)

> [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/)

[G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/)

> [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/)

[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/)

> [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/)

[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/)

> [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/)

[Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/)

[Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art than to create one.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Marcel Proust"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-great-work-of-art-than-to/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Art"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-great-work-of-art-than-to/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/478/marcel-proust-114_art_it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-g_2344027.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“It's far more difficult to disfigure a great work of art than to create one.” — Marcel Proust",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Marcel Proust",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“It's far more difficult to disfigure...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-great-work-of-art-than-to/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/it-s-far-more-difficult-to-disfigure-a-great-work-of-art-than-to/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```