I cut people off a lot when I talk. It’s a terrible habit.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
What is your worst intellectual habit?
Craft & work
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m monstrously judgmental. It’s like talking to the pope.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 March 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 249 →Having no patience.
Obsequiousness.
Self-criticism.
More from Sarah Perry
View profile →Not being loved.
Impatient, ambitious and happy.
I have never been able to become an atheist and, even though I know it is completely irrational and cannot be backed up, I think when I die I’m going to glory.
I am so obdurate I do not change my mind.
I’ve a deplorable tendency to become entrenched in my own prejudices: If I dislike an artist, an art form, or an idea (jazz, ballet, certain kinds of fiction) it is extremely difficult to get me to change my mind, and all evidence presented to the contrary will be discarded and very likely mocked. Of course, nobody suffers but me.
Like it’s worth being alive.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Paula Wilcox, Felicity Jones, David Hockney, Bruce Dickinson, Johnny Flynn, John Lithgow
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