I sometimes wish I had had the courage to be a politician – but I made the decision to be a human rights defender instead. I realised I cannot be both at the same time, because they may be incompatible.
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.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 March 2017 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 203 →I don’t think I’d change anything: the bad forms you more than the good.
I’d give myself some fashion sense.
I would do more weightlifting than aerobics. Strong is better than skinny.
More from Tim Rice
View profile →When I was seven. I remember it as a golden time, long gone.
A painting by Tamara de Lempicka.
I worked in a petrol station on the A1 one summer. I enjoyed it except when I was on latrine duty.
Possibly the fact that some of the stuff I’ve written will still be around after I’ve snuffed it.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
Adam Kay, Gregg Wallace, Ian McEwan, Jack Whitehall, Paterson Joseph, Lionel Shriver
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All failure & regret questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject