Novelist and screenwriter; Nobel laureate in Literature, 2017
I always dreamt of having a second stomach I could carry around in a bag, which I could attach to my real stomach when I sat down in restaurants.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2023
One question · 6 of 57 answers to it
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
Verbatim recurring item in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire; two publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Staff writer at The New Yorker; essayist
You have to discipline your mind and your heart and not to be unduly nostalgic about those losses.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2018
Actor
I am the way I am, and I can’t change that. Why even think about it?
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2013
Musician, poet and photographer
I would love to have a better sense of physical balance.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2024
Co-chief executive and president of Ariel Investments
silver bullet is probably incentives.
Recorded · CNBC · 2021
Indecisiveness. It can be really annoying, especially when I am out to dinner and can’t decide between the chicken or the fish.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2022
Answers marked Recorded were said elsewhere and are quoted with the publication and date they came from. Those people have not joined — nobody here answers on anyone else's behalf.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
British actor and comedian
Nothing – haven’t you heard of the butterfly effect? I could find myself still collecting glasses in Charnock Richard while Donald Sutherland would be enjoying my life.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2019
English football player and manager
I was probably too cheeky to chairmen over the years.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2019
Scottish singer
I read too much science fiction to mess with anything. I’d be terrified that, by changing something, my kids wouldn’t be mine.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
What are you most proud of?
Originally asked
Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions
Vogue's 73 Questions repeatedly asks respondents to select the work, relationship, or achievement that makes them proudest.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Ivorian-born English footballer; centre-back for Manchester City and England
Just the fact I have kept going. I'd say I am very hard on myself and I like it that way. It keeps me on my toes, it keeps me grounded, it keeps me focused and wanting to improve.
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2025
President of Rwanda since 2000
Very happy, very proud, apart from the loss of many lives, which can never be corrected, or we can’t do much about it. It’s probably the most expensive part of the struggle.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2017
Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST; semiconductor and photonics researcher
I am most proud of the legacy of my students and postdocs. The real triumph, for me, is witnessing the transformation of the individuals who have passed through my lab.
Recorded · Light: Science & Applications · 2024
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Originally asked
Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions
A repeated rapid-fire prompt in Vogue's 73 Questions, verified in separate English- and Korean-language episodes.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Physician and medical anthropologist; co-founder of Partners In Health
I had lots of teachers encourage me. And I still know some of them, my high school teachers. But one of them encouraged me.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2009
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2009–present
He asked me to go through the evidence of the cases, which I did. And at the end of it he said, “Well, you have one thing missing.” I said “What, I thought I covered all of the bases.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
Composer of musical theatre
Harold Prince went to see it and he wrote me a letter saying don’t be discouraged about this because actually there’s some quite good songs in here.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2019
People, by what they do
- Science and medicine 105
- Arts and letters 1211
- Politics and public life 132
- Business and finance 70
- Technology 47
- Sport 109
Recorded for public figures, from the source their answers were taken from. Browse by era too.
Questions, by subject
- Identity & self 14
- Values & belief 13
- Change of mind 1
- Failure & regret 9
- Craft & work 36
- Money & investment 4
- Taste & recommendation 6
- Relationships 5
- Time & hindsight 8
- Death & what remains 13
- Daily life 9
- Attention & the world 8
Every question the bank can deal, in the order it was written. See all 126.
Some of the people here · A–Z
Find someone →Andre Russell, Bob Dylan, Brett Story, Cee Lo Green, Daniel Radcliffe, David Lynch, David Schwimmer, Derek Sivers, Donatella Versace, Emily Watson, Eve Ensler, Gregg Wallace, Hayley Mills, Jimi Tenor, John Pawson, Joss Whedon, Kofi Annan, Liev Schreiber, Mark Steel, Martin Freeman, Martin Kemp, M Lin, Muhammad Yunus, Nick Grimshaw, Nick Robinson, Nicolaas Bloembergen, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Pamela Anderson, Phyllis Bramson, Ricardo Semler, Robert De Niro, Romola Garai, Sheryl Crow, Stephanie Beacham, Stephen Dillane, Stephen Dorff, Terry Crews, Terry Pratchett, Toby Stephens, Toro y Moi
Answers that stay at one address
You are dealt a few questions at a time and answer the ones you want to. What you write gets a permanent address and keeps it. Rewrite it whenever you like and say why — the new version goes up beside the old one rather than over it, so changing your mind reads as thinking rather than as a reversal.
You write before you read. Other members' answers to a question stay shut until you have answered it or passed on it, because reading first changes what you would have said. Passing is free and it is permanent.
- People
- 1,679
- Answers
- 8,155
- Questions
- 126
- First said
- 1910–2026
Most of what is here so far was said somewhere else and recorded with its source — a named person, a publication and a date, on every line. Nothing has been deleted.