I love reading the Proust questionnaire column in Vanity Fair magazine. It gives such a great insight into a person. These days it’s common to stalk an individual on a Linkedin or Facebook profile. To my mind it would be useful if every profile or About page included a mandatory Proust questionnaire.
So in the interests of disclosure, I provide the following insights for your consideration.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Warmth, nothing scheduled, an empty day ahead.
What is your greatest fear?
Chaos.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
A tendency to exaggerate to enhance a good story.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Delusion.
Which living person do you most admire?
Someone brave, wise and strong.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Imagined extravagance: laundered sheets. Actual extravagance: sleep.
What is your current state of mind?
Grateful.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I like them all. None are overrated.
On what occasion do you lie?
When the truth really, really hurts.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
That it’s staring back at me.
Which living person do you most despise?
There’s a great many that I don’t particularly like. But despise is a bit harsh. I don’t despise anyone. But given time, opportunity and more information…
What is the quality you most like in a man?
It’s tough to list just one. Maybe, kindness despite it all.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Dignity.
What words or phrases do you most overuse?
What would you like for dinner?
When and where were you happiest?
On holidays, on a bicycle.
Which talent would you most like to have?
To sing like Joan Sutherland.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’m too old to change anything. I’ll work with what I’ve got.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting this far.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
My cat.
Where would you most like to live?
Anywhere with a garden, lots of books and a cat.
What is your most treasured possession?
Anything belonging to someone I loved who is gone.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Working for evil.
What is your favourite occupation?
Garbage collector. Any sort of waste management that keeps the world turning.
What is your most marked characteristic?
Solitary.
What do you most value in your friends?
Shared history. I’m proud of all of my friends.
Who are your favourite writers?
A.A. Gill, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Flannery O’Connor.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Anyone who pulls themselves back from the brink of destruction.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Anyone confused and afraid, but forging-ahead nonetheless.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Catherine Freeman (focus under pressure), Julia Gillard (I will not be lectured to about misogyny by that man), Noel Pearson (a champion of his people), people who keep going when it hurts.
What are your favourite names?
The names of the people I love.
What is it that you most dislike?
Saying yes, when I really don’t want to.
What is your greatest regret?
Hurting people.
How would you like to die?
Quickly, and with little fuss.
What is your motto?
It changes from time-to-time, but ‘Done is better than perfect’ is being bandied-about at the moment.
