Sam Neill
New Zealand actor
My brother, Michael. He is an academic and has devoted his life to scholarship; my life seems trivial by comparison. Bastard.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Identity & self
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Leontyne Price gives me life. She broke racial barriers with inimitable poise, grace, and excellence, as well as unbelievable focus and vision.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, June 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
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Jonathan Safran Foer
American novelist
It's not a competition.
I know too many really good people to choose just one person—and that is not indecision.
Those who put others first.
More from Laverne Cox
View profile →Thinking that I am less-than. That thinking is cunning, baffling, and insidious, and I must guard against it every hour of every day.
At the SAG awards in 2016. I remember going into that night saying to myself, “I might not be here again; let me be fully in the moment.” The cast of Orange Is the New Black won the acting-ensemble award for the second year in a row, and I was there with a man I truly loved. That night was everything I had always dreamed about.
Thinking that I am not enough or not beautiful the way I am. That thinking is super-dangerous.
Cuddling in bed on a Sunday morning with the man I love. Also, applause and standing ovations.
Mean-spiritedness and the inability to set and respect boundaries.
Being homeless.
More on values & belief
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- What are you unwilling to optimise? 27 answers
- What have you come to understand about what it means to be human? 13 answers
- What is the most overrated virtue? 10 answers
- What do you need to believe in order to get through the day? 8 answers
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