The deepest part of the record, and the decade the podcast interview took over from the profile.
35 people · 2,865 answers
Originally asked
Krista Tippett, to her guests, On Being
Krista Tippett uses this as a recurring, sometimes-closing On Being question; the wording is intentionally adapted to each guest.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008
Recorded · Ben Tiggelaar · 2018
Part of what separates us from the other creatures on earth is that we make up stories. We are storytellers. And we can tell bad stories and we can tell good stories.
Leader of the National League for Democracy; Nobel Peace Prize laureate; State Counsellor of Myanmar, 2016–2021
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 2012
It is in human nature to contain both the positive and the negative. However, it is also within human capability to work to reinforce the positive and to minimize or neutralize the negative.
Film critic
Recorded · Roger Ebert's Journal, rogerebert.com · 2010
When I was a child the mailman came once a day. Now the mail arrives every moment. I used to believe it was preposterous that people could fall in love online.
Historian and essayist
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
I was forced to think very hard about what it meant to be me, what it means to be a person who is only a brain.
Historian of American Christianity; professor at Duke Divinity School
Recorded · The New York Times · 2016
The movement has perfected a rarefied form of America’s addiction to self-rule, which denies much of our humanity: our fragile bodies, our finitude, our need to stare down our deaths (at…
Essayist, critic and journalist
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2010
Nobody wants to be told about the countless minor horrors and humiliations that become facts of “life” when your body turns from being a friend to being a foe: the boring switch from…
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim standing question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A questionnaire, documented across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2014
Casual cruelty; the wearing of essential oils.
American singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012
Dishonesty and being late for appointments.
American comedian and TV host
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2015
Taking fucking forever. Can’t you see I’m waiting?
Spanish professional tennis player, 2001–2024
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2010
Selfishness and no respect for the others.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2016
People who do not love. If you are not loving, you are not living. Why wouldn’t you love? What’s the problem?
Novelist, short story writer and essayist
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2018
Amid so much blatant cruelty in our political situation, such shocking indifference to the lives & welfare of those living at the margins of an affluent society, I think it must be this…
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
English actor
Recorded · The Guardian · 2018
Abseiling down a cliff for Doc Martin in a suit, carrying a medical bag.
British and American actress
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
On a plane with Meryl Streep in 1984: the engines blew and we had to make an emergency landing.
Irish actor and director
Recorded · The Guardian · 2016
Getting knocked down by a bus. The experience left me with the exhilaration of life enhanced.
English comedian, presenter, writer
Recorded · The Guardian · 2018
Ten years ago, I went to visit my dad in Australia. I walked to the edge of a cliff and looked over and tripped. I righted myself but my head was over the edge. No one saw it.
English football player and manager
Recorded · The Guardian · 2019
A car accident in Italy in 1990. Four people got killed. I was lucky, I got thrown out.
English actress and presenter
Recorded · The Guardian · 2018
I’ve been to two postmortems in real life, and spent the last 14 years talking about death at work – so, pretty close.
Alison Moyet, Arlene Phillips, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Aung San Suu Kyi, Barack Obama, Bear Grylls, Bill Clinton, Chris Hoy, David Guetta, David Vélez, Derek Sivers, George Takei, Gloria Estefan, Gloria Steinem, Jenna Coleman, Jimmy Carter, John Lewis, Julie Andrews, Malala Yousafzai, Mario Molina, Mellody Hobson, Mike Skinner, Neil Gaiman, Nish Kumar, Oliver Sacks, Omid Djalili, Romola Garai, Sandi Toksvig, Sarah Perry, Shinya Yamanaka, Shirley Manson, Simone Biles, Suzanne Vega, Tony Judt, Warren Buffett