Barbara Walters: 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.

Barbara Walters

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A fireplace, a book, and a snowy day, with no possibility of getting into the office.

The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 October 2004 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 158 →

Michael Cunningham

The very idea of perfect happiness. Who wouldn’t be happy about the proposition that happiness can be perfect?

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 22 November 2023 source ↗

Patti LuPone

A calm and peaceful mind, landing a joke, being the name right after “And the winner is…”

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 19 August 2024 source ↗

Martin Scorsese

I think you can strive to attain it, but be realistic about the outcome. In the meantime, I find I might be experiencing it through flashes or brief moments in love and art, and at times just being alive.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 March 2010 source ↗

Bill Maher

Being in love while organizing my closet.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 May 2010 source ↗

More from Barbara Walters

View profile →

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

In Paris and Italy, the summer after graduating from college.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2004 source ↗

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

Christopher and Dana Reeve. Robert and Michelle Smithdas—teachers who are both deaf and blind. Oprah Winfrey.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2004 source ↗

Also answered this

Cecile Richards, John Lewis, Bill Moyers, Ed Koch, Rachel Maddow, Bill Clinton

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All identity & self questions
The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer

Others on this question

More from Barbara Walters

More on identity & self

Also answered this

Explore further