I wish the young people of today would not so completely resist discipline. As a generation, they hate authority and confuse it with discipline. As a person who has been very unhappy at times, I can tell them that no true happiness is possible without some measure of self-discipline.
Of course, you can overdo this self-discipline thing. I used to live by clocks. If I were five minutes late to the set or to an appointment, I actually became physically ill.
And I had other little ways of tormenting myself. I love to read. But I would not settle down to a favorite book or magazine until I had completely cleaned my house, made the bed, washed the dishes. It was as though I couldn't enjoy myself until I had punished myself a little. One day, out of the blue, I said, ‘To hell with this.’ The house was a mess, the bed unmade, the dishes unwashed and cigarette trays unemptied—and I sat down and read and read. And never enjoyed myself more!
Sometimes we don’t realize the good of it until much later. For instance, when I was a very young girl in Sweden I had a wild crush on a boy down the block. I was so smitten with him that I’d stand outside his window and listen while he took piano lessons. His mother mistook my interest. She told my mother that I was crazy about music and that I, too, should be given piano lessons.
So my mother rented a piano and for hours and hours, terrible hours, I’d have to practice every day. I hated and loathed it. My point is—I did learn to play the piano which has brought me a great deal of happiness. At the time, it just seemed it was keeping me away from my true love, that kid of 15.
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