--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a point, and it is reached more…" description: "\"There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is supposed, where interference with freedom of the arts and literature becomes an attack on the l..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg" --- # There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is… ![“There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is supposed, where interference with freedom of the arts and literature becomes an attack on the life of society.” quote by Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg) > “There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is supposed, where interference with freedom of the arts and literature becomes an attack on the life of society.” [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Censoring art and literature harms society’s vitality and freedom. **In simple terms:** Restricting art damages society. Key Takeaway Defend artistic freedom. Themes censorship art society freedom Mood thoughtful defensive Type political cultural When to use this quote - library policy - education curricula - media regulation Key Concepts cultural studies politics law Questions to Reflect On - Where should limits on expression be drawn? - How does art reflect societal health? A Different Perspective Some content may be harmful; balance needed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) ## Related quotes > [Yeah, I think the arts and literature have always been irrevocably connected. Because if you think about it, every film script, every play, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-walton-hamilton/yeah-i-think-the-arts-and-literature-have-always-been-irrevocably/) [Emma Walton Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-walton-hamilton/) > [When a culture is being dumbed down as effectively as ours is, its narrative arts (literature, film, theatre) seem to vacillate between the brutal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/when-a-culture-is-being-dumbed-down-as-effectively-as-ours-is-its/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [“Some days, it feels unreasonable to expect that an academic text can work as a form of movement assessment or to support social and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-r-meiners/some-days-it-feels-unreasonable-to-expect-that-an-academic-text-can/) Erica R. Meiners > [At 17, I went to an engineering college, the entire reading was about fluid mechanics and steam engines and what not, so I drifted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anubhav-sinha/at-17-i-went-to-an-engineering-college-the-entire-reading-was-about/) [Anubhav Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anubhav-sinha/) > [“I didn't want salvation. I was either past that point or never reached it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/i-didn-t-want-salvation-i-was-either-past-that-point-or-never-reached/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [...a point is reached where the self is so completely aligned with the still-point that it can no longer be moved, even in its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernadette-roberts/a-point-is-reached-where-the-self-is-so-completely-aligned-with-the/) [Bernadette Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernadette-roberts/) > [From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/from-a-certain-point-onward-there-is-no-longer-any-turning-back-that/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [The point is always reached after which the gods no longer share their lives with mortal men and women, they die or wither away…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-point-is-always-reached-after-which-the-gods-no-longer-share/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Beyond a certain point there is no return. This point has to be reached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/beyond-a-certain-point-there-is-no-return-this-point-has-to-be-reached/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [Having spent years ruining the housing markets with their interference, leading to a housing meltdown that has taken the whole economy down with it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/having-spent-years-ruining-the-housing-markets-with-their/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [... professing myself moreover convinced that the general's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/professing-myself-moreover-convinced-that-the-general-s-unjust/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [The current demoralization of the art world is attributable at least in part to museum interference, ideological and practical, with ongoing creation in art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-rosenberg/the-current-demoralization-of-the-art-world-is-attributable-at-least/) [Harold Rosenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-rosenberg/) > [In my model, important interference phenomena arise when individual strata come into contact. These chaotic fluctuations are, I suppose, what my music is really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-ferneyhough/in-my-model-important-interference-phenomena-arise-when-individual/) [Brian Ferneyhough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-ferneyhough/) > [“So the line's clogged up. Sometimes when we get bad mobile reception, we don't know if it's or line or the other person's. Hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-b-jones/so-the-line-s-clogged-up-sometimes-when-we-get-bad-mobile-reception/) [Jenny B. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-b-jones/) > [Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/woe-to-that-nation-whose-literature-is-cut-short-by-the-intrusion-of/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) ## More by Rebecca West > [I see the main problem of my life, and indeed anybody's life, as the balancing of competitive freedoms ... a sense of mutual obligations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/i-see-the-main-problem-of-my-life-and-indeed-anybody-s-life-as-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that sometimes one needs help with moving the piano.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-of-course-no-reason-for-the-existence-of-the-male-sex-except/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“At the top of a hill our automobile stuck in a snowdrift. Peasants ran out of a cottage near by, shouting with laughter because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/at-the-top-of-a-hill-our-automobile-stuck-in-a-snowdrift-peasants-ran/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/we-all-drew-on-the-comfort-which-is-given-out-by-the-major-works-of/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Christianity must be regarded not as a final revelation but as a phase of revelation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/christianity-must-be-regarded-not-as-a-final-revelation-but-as-a/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Art and propaganda have this much connection, that if a propaganda makes art impossible, it is clearly damned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/art-and-propaganda-have-this-much-connection-that-if-a-propaganda/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [The American struggle for the vote was much more difficult than the English for the simple reason that it was much more easy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-american-struggle-for-the-vote-was-much-more-difficult-than-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [ Like all bad drivers, he \[Henry Andrews\] thought he was the best driver in the world... ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/like-all-bad-drivers-he-henry-andrews-thought-he-was-the-best-driver/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [The childhood of the individual and the race is full of fears, and panic-stricken attempts to avert what is feared by placating the gods…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-childhood-of-the-individual-and-the-race-is-full-of-fears-and/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Humanity is never more sphinxlike than when it is expressing itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/humanity-is-never-more-sphinxlike-than-when-it-is-expressing-itself/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [ \[On Jane Austen:\] To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is as sensible as to imagine that when the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/on-jane-austen-to-believe-her-limited-in-range-because-she-was/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [a good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/a-good-oyster-cannot-please-the-palate-as-acutely-as-a-bad-one-can/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to Him. I often have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/if-there-is-a-god-i-don-t-think-he-would-demand-that-anyone-bow-down/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/any-authentic-work-of-art-must-start-an-argument-between-the-artist/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [... there has never been a period in history when there have been necessary killings which has not been instantly followed by a period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-has-never-been-a-period-in-history-when-there-have-been/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) [Explore all 264 Rebecca West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## 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 > [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": "There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is supposed, where interference with freedom of the arts and literature becomes an attack on the life of society.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca West" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more-easily-than-is-supposed-where/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more-easily-than-is-supposed-where/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/rebecca-west-1248_art_there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more_2174534.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is a point, and it is reached more easily than is supposed, where interference with freedom of the…” — Rebecca West", "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": "Rebecca West", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is a point, and it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more-easily-than-is-supposed-where/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-a-point-and-it-is-reached-more-easily-than-is-supposed-where/#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 } } ] } ```