--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It took me 11 years to struggle through…" description: "\"It took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and every day you just want to give up. But you don't find out you're an artist because you do s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/245/junot-diaz-531_art_it-took-me-11-years-to-struggle-through_1419012.jpg" --- # It took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and… ![“It took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and every day you just want to give up. But you don't find out you're an artist because you do something really well.” quote by Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/245/junot-diaz-531_art_it-took-me-11-years-to-struggle-through_1419012.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/245/junot-diaz-531_art_it-took-me-11-years-to-struggle-through_1419012.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/245/junot-diaz-531_art_it-took-me-11-years-to-struggle-through_1419012.jpg) > “It took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and every day you just want to give up. But you don't find out you're an artist because you do something really well.” [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Enduring long, difficult creative work reveals talent only after persistent effort. **In simple terms:** Hard work eventually shows your true skill. Key Takeaway Keep persisting despite setbacks. Themes perseverance creativity self‑discovery Mood determined reflective Type motivational inspirational When to use this quote - writing a novel - learning a craft - overcoming creative block - daily practice Key Concepts growth mindset artistic identity Questions to Reflect On - What long‑term project are you abandoning? - How can you measure progress beyond outcomes? A Different Perspective Talent may stay hidden without visible results; success is not immediate. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Artist Really](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist-really/) [Because](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/because/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day/) [Dumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dumb/) [Dumb Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dumb-book-5020528/) [Every](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every/) [Every day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-day/) [Find](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/find/) [Give](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/give/) [Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just/) [Me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/me/) [Out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/out/) [Really](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/really/) [Something](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Struggle Dumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle-dumb-5020527/) [Through](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/through/) [Took](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/took/) [Up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/up/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/well/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) [Years Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-struggle-326004/) [You](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/you/) ## Related quotes > [It is only after years of struggle and deprivation that the young artist should touch color - and then only in the company of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/el-greco/it-is-only-after-years-of-struggle-and-deprivation-that-the-young/) [El Greco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/el-greco/) > [Look at my success. I didn't achieve it overnight. It has been the product of many years' struggle, and every year, my times have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-farah/look-at-my-success-i-didn-t-achieve-it-overnight-it-has-been-the/) [Mo Farah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-farah/) > [One of the reasons this record took so long to come out is that we withstood a lot of pressures and we were unwilling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kanal/one-of-the-reasons-this-record-took-so-long-to-come-out-is-that-we/) [Tony Kanal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kanal/) > [“After twenty-two years of marriage, we had outgrown the challenge of making something out of nothing. The nesting instincts just weren't there anymore. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erma-bombeck/after-twenty-two-years-of-marriage-we-had-outgrown-the-challenge-of/) [Erma Bombeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erma-bombeck/) > [One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/one-day-in-retrospect-the-years-of-struggle-will-strike-you-as-the/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“After several years of struggle to bring the country to subjection, during which Henry had to keep armies in the field at ruinous cost,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-costain/after-several-years-of-struggle-to-bring-the-country-to-subjection/) [Thomas B. Costain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-costain/) > [Friendship is tested in the thick years of success rather than in the thin years of struggle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-humphries/friendship-is-tested-in-the-thick-years-of-success-rather-than-in-the/) [Barry Humphries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-humphries/) > [It has taken me years of struggle, hard work and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/it-has-taken-me-years-of-struggle-hard-work-and-research-to-learn-to/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/i-was-well-into-adulthood-before-i-was-prepared-to-acknowledge-the/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [It is difficult to make people understand that the ideal doesn't exist, that personal equilibrium and the harmony they dream of come only after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-vanier/it-is-difficult-to-make-people-understand-that-the-ideal-doesn-t/) [Jean Vanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-vanier/) > [My whole life has been a twenty years struggle between poetry and prose, or, if you like to call it so, Music and Law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-schumann/my-whole-life-has-been-a-twenty-years-struggle-between-poetry-and/) [Robert Schumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-schumann/) > [After ten years of struggle I reached somewhere, and then I see some people pulling me down. I tell myself that if this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yo-yo-honey-singh/after-ten-years-of-struggle-i-reached-somewhere-and-then-i-see-some/) [Yo Yo Honey Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yo-yo-honey-singh/) > [“I had my share of struggle, but I cannot complain because I owe my success to the years of struggle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taskinsoy/i-had-my-share-of-struggle-but-i-cannot-complain-because-i-owe-my/) [John Taskinsoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taskinsoy/) > [Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/now-at-the-end-of-three-years-struggle-the-nation-s-condition-is-not/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [I've gone through literally over 30 years of struggle with weight and food and body image... and I'm like, 'Wait a minute.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lampanelli/i-ve-gone-through-literally-over-30-years-of-struggle-with-weight-and/) [Lisa Lampanelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lampanelli/) ## More by Junot Diaz > [It might interest you that just as the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam, LBJ launched an illegal invasion of the Dominican…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/it-might-interest-you-that-just-as-the-u-s-was-ramping-up-its/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Tell her that you love her hair, that you love her skin, her lips, because, in truth, you love them more than you love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/tell-her-that-you-love-her-hair-that-you-love-her-skin-her-lips/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [It took me sixteen years to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/it-took-me-sixteen-years-to-write/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [You ask everybody you know: How long does it usually take to get over it? There are many formulas. One year for every year…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/you-ask-everybody-you-know-how-long-does-it-usually-take-to-get-over/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Instead of finding himself in nerd heaven—where every nerd gets fifty-eight virgins to role-play with—he woke up in Robert Wood Johnson with two broken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/instead-of-finding-himself-in-nerd-heaven-where-every-nerd-gets-fifty/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [The one thing about being a dude and writing from a female perspective is that the baseline is, you suck. The baseline is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/the-one-thing-about-being-a-dude-and-writing-from-a-female/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [“I used to think those were the barrio rules, Latinos and blacks in, whites out —a place we down cats weren’t supposed to go.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/i-used-to-think-those-were-the-barrio-rules-latinos-and-blacks-in/) [Junot Díaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [“I put my hand on her knee. I just wish you'd say you love me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/i-put-my-hand-on-her-knee-i-just-wish-you-d-say-you-love-me/) [Junot Díaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [I've always thought that you don't love a country by turning a blind eye to its crimes and to a problem. The way that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/i-ve-always-thought-that-you-don-t-love-a-country-by-turning-a-blind/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [“Called her a whore and attacked her walls, tearing down her posters and throwing her books everywhere. I found out because some whitegirl ran…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/called-her-a-whore-and-attacked-her-walls-tearing-down-her-posters/) [Junot Díaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [You're Dominican only if you do this, this, and that. And if you do this and that, you'll be accepted to a certain degree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/you-re-dominican-only-if-you-do-this-this-and-that-and-if-you-do-this/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [“Ramfis fled the country after Trujillo's death, lived dissolutely off his father's swag, and ended up dying in a car crash of his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/ramfis-fled-the-country-after-trujillo-s-death-lived-dissolutely-off/) [Junot Díaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [If you didn't grow up like I did then you don't know, and if you don't know it's probably better you don't judge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/if-you-didn-t-grow-up-like-i-did-then-you-don-t-know-and-if-you-don-t/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [“If you ask me I don't think there are any such things as curses. I think there is only life. That's enough.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/if-you-ask-me-i-don-t-think-there-are-any-such-things-as-curses-i/) [Junot Díaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [The only difference between a published and unpublished writer is a tolerance for imperfection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/the-only-difference-between-a-published-and-unpublished-writer-is-a/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) [Explore all 486 Junot Diaz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) ## 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 took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and every day you just want to give up. 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