Ancient historian and novelist; teaches ancient history at Oxford University
This is an odd choice because I disagree with almost all his conclusions.
Recorded · Five Books · 2010
One question · 6 of 27 answers to it
Whom do you read even though you disagree with them?
Originally asked
Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017
Vox used this as one of nine fixed questions in its 2017 series on intellectual habits.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Political philosopher; emeritus professor at the London School of Economics
I would include among philosophical writings some liberals. For example, John Stuart Mill, even though I disagree with him profoundly — a very resourceful and intelligent thinker.
Recorded · Conversations with Tyler
Musician, writer and broadcaster
I’ve read Cheney’s and Bush’s autobiographies. Books by Sarah Palin and Anne Coulter. I read articles on Breitbart.
Recorded · Vox · 2017
Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago
This strikes me as the most hilarious question, given that I’m a philosopher. Philosophy is all about respectful disagreement, and learning from disagreement.
Recorded · Vox · 2017
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center
Hamilton – I disagree with him much more than I agree with him. This book is very much a book about a father and a son.
Recorded · Five Books · 2011
Radio journalist and podcast host
I don’t think there is a better journalist than Hitchens writing in English.
Recorded · Five Books
Answers marked Recorded were said elsewhere and are quoted with the publication and date they came from. Those people have not joined — nobody here answers on anyone else's behalf.
Do you rely on inspiration or discipline to make work?
Originally asked
The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series
A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Bassist, singer and composer
I don’t remember which writer said this, but in an interview, a prolific novelist was asked, “Do you write only when you’re inspired, or do you write all the time?
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2014
Film director, photographer and installation artist
I was curious. Curiosity is a good thing. And I was curious about different people. And, as I said, I waited until something was strong enough to disturb me or inspire me to make a film.
Recorded · cléo · 2018
Writer and facilitator; author of Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism
Anyone can talk. Anyone can write. It takes discipline and rigor
Recorded · Longreads · 2018
How do you know when a piece of work is finished?
Originally asked
The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series
A repeated process question in The Creative Independent, asked across visual art, music, writing, performance, and mixed media.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
American interdisciplinary artist and educator
I don’t know the answer to that, especially with projects like Seat Assignment or Sorted Books, because both do still feel ongoing.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2017
American artist
When I look at a piece and I feel like it’s done. Usually I feel like everything is sitting where it should be, and nothing’s out of place.
Recorded · The Creative Independent
American musician
Sometimes I know, sometimes I don’t. It depends artistically, or pragmatically, on the steps that I’m taking.
Recorded · The Creative Independent
How does a new work begin for you?
Originally asked
The Paris Review, to novelists and poets, The Art of Fiction
A recurrent craft question in The Paris Review's Art of Fiction interviews; wording varies between character, theme, first sentence, image, and idea.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Singer-songwriter and physician
I know what you mean, but there are two kinds of voids, the one that you work with and the one that you bear. I work with and try to generate a void.
Recorded · The Creative Independent · 2022
Novelist; winner of the Booker Prize, 2005
I think it begins as a kind of tension in space. There’s something out there and it’s waiting for the big bang, and I have to get that into my head.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2017
British filmmaker and stage director
It’s like a kind of boiling kettle, you know: you don’t want to make your tea until the kettle’s boiled and it’s the same thing, you don’t want to make your movie until you’re boiling with…
Recorded · The Talks · 2020
People, by what they do
- Science and medicine 105
- Arts and letters 1211
- Politics and public life 132
- Business and finance 70
- Technology 47
- Sport 109
Recorded for public figures, from the source their answers were taken from. Browse by era too.
Questions, by subject
- Identity & self 14
- Values & belief 13
- Change of mind 1
- Failure & regret 9
- Craft & work 36
- Money & investment 4
- Taste & recommendation 6
- Relationships 5
- Time & hindsight 8
- Death & what remains 13
- Daily life 9
- Attention & the world 8
Every question the bank can deal, in the order it was written. See all 126.
Some of the people here · A–Z
Find someone →Adam Kay, Alex Hallford, Anne Enright, Bryan Ferry, Cerys Matthews, Clara Amfo, Curtis Sittenfeld, David Chipperfield, Dax Shepard, Demis Hassabis, Ernest J. Gaines, Gregg Wallace, Harriet Walter, Hayley Squires, Jane Fonda, Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Deller, Jeremy Sorese, Johnny Cash, Julie Delpy, Kim Wilde, Leelee Kimmel, Mary McCartney, Philip Pullman, Rebecca Ness, Reggie Yates, Richard Eyre, Rickie Lee Jones, Robert Glenister, Ronald Reagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rylan Clark-Neal, Seth Meyers, Sharleen Spiteri, Shirley Ballas, Stephen Merchant, Steve Jobs, Sue Perkins, Suzanne Vega, Tim Rice
Answers that stay at one address
You are dealt a few questions at a time and answer the ones you want to. What you write gets a permanent address and keeps it. Rewrite it whenever you like and say why — the new version goes up beside the old one rather than over it, so changing your mind reads as thinking rather than as a reversal.
You write before you read. Other members' answers to a question stay shut until you have answered it or passed on it, because reading first changes what you would have said. Passing is free and it is permanent.
- People
- 1,679
- Answers
- 8,155
- Questions
- 126
- First said
- 1910–2026
Most of what is here so far was said somewhere else and recorded with its source — a named person, a publication and a date, on every line. Nothing has been deleted.