Tramping through the woods in South Jersey in 1957 with my dog Bambi.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2024 source ↗
The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 577 →Probably the curtain call of my final performance when I played King Lear.
Michael Morpurgo
British children's writer
When I was a young father and teaching at a local primary school in Kent.
Annie Lennox
Scottish musician
When my daughters were delivered safely.
Sam Shepard
American playwright and actor
Before I was born.
More from Patti Smith
View profile →Clarity when I am writing.
Collapse of the imagination.
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 ↗
The artist Gerhard Richter.
I would love to have a better sense of physical balance.
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