That I take this questionnaire too seriously and reveal my crimes and misdemeanors, or I treat this questionnaire too flippantly and bring shame to the House of Proust.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
Which teacher, parent, coach or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them?
Relationships
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
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.
Having a stroke.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2017 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →
Eugene Levy
Actor and writer
Being on a Broadway stage and forgetting what the play is.
My lips are sealed.
Olivia de Havilland
Film actress; twice winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress
The loss of physical, financial, and psychological independence.
More from John Grisham
View profile →This morning. I had a typical day: got up early, took the dog for a walk, went to the gym for an hour, then wrote for four hours. That makes me a very happy person.
When my mom died, on 18 January this year.
Drop 20lb and lower my cholesterol.
I don’t care – I won’t be here.
I had the benefit of some very good high school English teachers. One in particular when I was a senior in high school. I was a jock, okay. I was not a student. Although I enjoyed reading, that was about it as far as academics. But she forced us to read good books and good writers, particularly good American writers. We weren’t too thrilled to do it initially, but she taught us how to do it. Through that, I discovered some of my favorite authors, particularly John Steinbeck. Once I had gone through all of Steinbeck’s books, I realized that I had had a wonderful experience.
Impatience; the inability to savor the moment.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
Also answered this
Rose Tremain, Zadie Smith, Danielle Steel, Fran Lebowitz, Fay Ripley, Jane Asher
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- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject