The age. I would like to be 30 years old now.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
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.
I would love to have a better sense of physical balance.
The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 24 July 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 52 →I would laugh more. I don’t laugh enough.
Elmore Leonard
Novelist and screenwriter
Convince myself that walking two miles a day isn’t boring.
I’d like to increase my brain’s computing speed.
More from Patti Smith
View profile →Collapse of the imagination.
Tramping through the woods in South Jersey in 1957 with my dog Bambi.
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work. […] Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.
Recorded
Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012
source ↗
Clarity when I am writing.
The artist Gerhard Richter.
More on identity & self
- What is your greatest fear? 256 answers
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
Also answered this
Carrie Fisher, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Fry, George Saunders, Elmore Leonard, Danielle Steel
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Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
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