Alain de Botton
Writer and philosopher; founder of The School of Life
Impatience with difficult projects: panicking and giving up too quickly.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
An “elastic” sense of time (fancy way of saying I am late a lot).
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2014 source ↗
Others on this question
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Erin O'Connor
English model
I'm too diplomatic. I tend to edit my mind before I speak - it can be incredibly draining.
Outside my very close-knit group of friends, socially I’m terrible.
Being giving to the detriment of myself.
More from Lena Dunham
View profile →Casual cruelty; the wearing of essential oils.
Unmade bed surrounded by books, writing utensils, and the dog; a plate of demolished toast with butter on my chest; loved ones puttering not too close but not too far.
To lose the ability to do my work.
My uncle, Edward Wood Dunham. He has Parkinson’s disease and faces every day with bravery, humor, and a gin-and-tonic.
More on identity & self
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Jerry Lewis, David Hasselhoff, Billy Crudup, Scott Mills, Daphne Guinness, Sally Field
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