John Lewis: 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.

John Lewis

U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

When I was growing up on a farm in rural Alabama, I fell in love with raising chickens. They seem truly innocent. Whenever I'm around chickens, I feel happy.

Vanity Fair, Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 6 December 2019 source ↗

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball player and author

Being surrounded by my friends and family. Just listening to them interacting, laughing, sharing. It is the culmination of everything I could have hoped for.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 27 August 2020 source ↗

Cecile Richards

A taco truck on every corner.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 29 March 2018 source ↗

Bonnie Raitt Singer and guitarist

Being out in a gorgeous natural setting with time to enjoy.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 28 September 2022 source ↗

Anjelica Huston

A walk on the Golden Strand beach in County Mayo, on the West Coast of Ireland.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 30 January 2019 source ↗

More from John Lewis

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Question What bad recommendations do people in your field repeat too often? Craft & work

I would come home and ask my mother, my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, 'Why?'. And they would say, 'That's the way it is. Don't get in the way, don't get in trouble!'

Recorded Emory University Quadrangle, Atlanta, Speakola (speech transcript archive), 12 May 2014 source ↗

Question What makes you want to keep learning? Attention & the world

I wanted to know. I asked a lot of questions and she would say, "Read, read."…So she inspired me a great deal.

Recorded Julian Bond, Explorations in Black Leadership interview, Explorations in Black Leadership, University of Virginia source ↗

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

Barack Obama, because he believed he could be president of the United States, and he succeeded. He was kind, and he tried to set a high standard of leadership.

Recorded Vanity Fair, Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 6 December 2019 source ↗

Question Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? Money & investment

Buying art…. But it makes me happy!

Recorded Vanity Fair, Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 6 December 2019 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

As a participant in the movement, as I was sitting in, I came to that point where I lost all sense of fear.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Chicago, 10 June 2004 source ↗

Question What kind of death would you consider a good one? Death & what remains

I don't want to die. I don't think I'm going to die…but we all have to die. Since I do, I hope I live on in the hearts and minds of people.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 6 December 2019 source ↗

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