James Taylor: What does happiness look like for you when life is going well?

The question

What does happiness look like for you when life is going well?

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.

James Taylor

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Happiness is going to come and go, but to have a chance at intermittent happiness you need to be free from fear. In our culture, in our day, we can lose sight of what a rare gift that is: to live free from fear

The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 22 May 2015 source ↗

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Dolly Parton American singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman

A big loaded baked potato and a good book with time to eat it and read it.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 November 2012 source ↗

Patrick Stewart Actor

Walking in my garden in England with my wife.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 April 2016 source ↗

Alfre Woodard

Under sail somewhere with my children, Mavis and Duncan, and my husband, Roderick, with no agenda.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 26 August 2022 source ↗

Ricky Gervais

Playing with a dog. And we’re both drunk.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 10 August 2017 source ↗

More from James Taylor

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Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Noam Chomsky, Barack Obama.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2015 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

Still nuclear annihilation.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2015 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

I don’t remember the womb, so … my first taste of ice cream? First night in a girl’s bed: happy.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2015 source ↗

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