Tramping through the woods in South Jersey in 1957 with my dog Bambi.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2024 source ↗
The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
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Joseph Fiennes
English actor
Growing up in the 70s, in the country in England and Ireland.
There are different kinds of happiness, but the simplest was when I was 13 because what one had to do was so obvious.
Sinéad O'Connor
Irish singer and songwriter
When I am performing, and when my kids make musical mayhem.
In the orange blossom-filled streets of Seville, snogging on a park bench.
More from Patti Smith
View profile →Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work. […] Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.
Recorded
Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012
source ↗
I would love to have a better sense of physical balance.
The artist Gerhard Richter.
Collapse of the imagination.
Clarity when I am writing.
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