Drowning. The feeling of not being able to take a breath. I’m sure my therapist would have something to say about the deep psychological reasons for it.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What is your worst intellectual habit?
Craft & work
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see?
Craft & work
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
Which writers or artists most influenced your work?
Taste & recommendation
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Dying before my children are adults.
Rosanna Greenstreet, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2009 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 286 →
Margaret Atwood
Novelist, poet and critic
That human beings will follow their stupid and greedy side, rather than their smart side, and go down the plughole. We’re circling the rim.
Patrick Stewart
Actor
That I would lose her.
Jim Kerr
Scottish singer and songwriter
I have a mild fear of not being appreciative enough for the luck that has come my way. That’s about it.
More from Alain de Botton
View profile →I’m prone to overexplaining things –- when my own understanding of them is shaky. The better I know something, the shorter my prose.
Some dodgy liver function tests in 2004.
interior design. I would love to design your house for you. At night, I sketch designs for King's Cross, new versions of the British Library, and new versions of my kitchen.
Fear, anxiety, longing, love, art, beauty.
To two ex-girlfriends, for my cowardice.
Norman Mailer, Geoff Dyer and Roland Barthes. I'm interested in writing that takes in the great questions. I'm curious as to whether you can be profound in the course of reporting the incidents of everyday life.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 263 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 232 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 196 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 167 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 121 answers
- What are you most proud of? 119 answers
Also answered this
David Hare, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, Jia Tolentino, Judy Blume, Carrie Fisher
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