Charlie Munger
Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023
if your proposed marriage contract has forty-seven pages, my suggestion is you not enter.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Craft & work
Question
In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
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.
My inability to keep track of personal possessions.
The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 8 June 2016 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 52 →Best to leave things alone. Pull things out, it all comes down. I’m Jenga like that.
Carrie Fisher
Actor and writer
My inability to have romantic relationships.
Elmore Leonard
Novelist and screenwriter
Convince myself that walking two miles a day isn’t boring.
More from Yo-Yo Ma
View profile →Those times when I feel equilibrium, maximum consciousness, and clarity.
Very large bugs.
Perfection is always a desired goal, but it cannot be a primary goal. Expression has to be the primary goal, because otherwise, there is no need for an actual person to be there.
But part of practicing to me is actually an active enjoyment. When people ask, “How much do you practice and do you like practice?” Well, I think it’s always getting your mind to go from “I should” to “I want.” It’s like the magic button that only you can locate. When you’re doing the “should” thing, time happens very slowly. Ugh, I’ve been practicing forever! Fifteen minutes. But when you want to do something, an hour has passed. Your control of time depends on whether you should do something or whether you want to do something.
When our children were born.
I love to break rules.
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
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