Alain de Botton: What keeps you awake at night?

The question

What keeps you awake at night?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Alain de Botton

Writer and philosopher; founder of The School of Life

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

failure. I dream of chapters I haven't written and things that I forgot to say in books I wrote three or seven years ago.

Charlotte Philby, My secret life, The Independent, 1 May 2009 source ↗

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Michael Kiwanuka English singer-songwriter

If I think my family’s not safe. And if I have a good idea musically: sometimes I can’t sleep out of excitement.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 November 2019 source ↗

Imelda Staunton English actress and singer

Snoring – and it's not me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 June 2013 source ↗

Aaron Ciechanover Biologist and physician; Nobel laureate in chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

what I'm really worried about and concerned is the lack of the voice of the leadership.

Recorded Moderator Karl Skorecki, Public conversation at Technion University, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy, 12 June 2018 source ↗

Vinnie Jones English professional footballer and actor

Auditions the next day.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 June 2016 source ↗

More from Alain de Botton

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Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

The summer just after finishing How Proust Can Change Your Life.

Recorded Rosanna Greenstreet, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2009 source ↗

Question What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see? Craft & work

interior design. I would love to design your house for you. At night, I sketch designs for King's Cross, new versions of the British Library, and new versions of my kitchen.

Recorded Charlotte Philby, My secret life, The Independent, 1 May 2009 source ↗

Question What is your worst intellectual habit? Craft & work

I’m prone to overexplaining things –- when my own understanding of them is shaky. The better I know something, the shorter my prose.

Recorded Sean Illing, Vox, “9 questions” series, 29 April 2017 source ↗

Question What important truth do very few people agree with you on? Values & belief

I want to persuade people that Culture, broadly defined (literature, philosophy, art, theatre, photography etc.) can be used as a guide to how to live. I believe in the practical application of Culture, Culture as self-help.

Recorded John Purcell, Ten Terrifying Questions, The Booktopian, 6 February 2012 source ↗

Question If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Identity & self

I'd grow more hair and try to be less mortal.

Recorded Charlotte Philby, My secret life, The Independent, 1 May 2009 source ↗

Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret

Trying to kiss someone who wasn't interested.

Recorded Rosanna Greenstreet, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2009 source ↗

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