The young Marcel Proust was asked to fill out questionnaires at two social events: one when he was 13, another when he was 20. Proust did not invent this party game; he is simply the most extraordinary person to respond to them. While I am not nearly the personage Marcel was, I too shall take a stab at them. Feel free to do so as well in the comments or on your own site and point me towards it in the comments.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A modest income without too much effort, a small parcel of land to grow things on, the company of those I love and time to indulge my hobbies and whims.
What is your greatest fear?
To live in error through misapprehension of the truth.
What historical figure do you most identify with?
My knowledge of history is too inadequate to answer definitely, but I feel a great affinity for Henry David Thoreau
Which living person do you most admire?
Aung San Suu Kyi
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Laziness
What trait do you most deplore in others?
lack of self-awareness
What is your greatest extravagance?
Love
On what occasion do you lie?
Only when it does not matter if I do. Maybe soon it will be never.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
There’s a bit too much of it at the moment.
What is your favorite journey?
Any by train, really. The standout would be taking the ICE from Frankfurt to Koln.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Faith, for a small amount of it is not enough to make one certain, and any more makes one ignore Truth.
Which living person do you most despise?
Dinesh D’Souza
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Idiot
What is your greatest regret?
I look back and I see choices made, paths untaken, lessons learned, but not regrets.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Truth is always the greatest love.
When and where were you happiest?
Every time I stop looking around and look at me, I am surprised that the answer is always the same: Here, Now.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Musicality
What is your current state of mind?
Relaxed and inattentive
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d get the sight in my left eye back
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Geography?
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?
a cow
If you could choose what or who to come back as, what would it be?
A house cat
What do your consider your greatest achievement?
I am still here, and I am still hopeful
What is your most treasured possession?
I have a natural lack of attachment to things, making this hard to answer. I suppose it would be my autographed copy of The Ramones Road To Ruin
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
powerlessness
What is your most marked characteristic?
My caustic wit, perhaps?
What is the quality you most like in a man?
A social nature; natural uncompetitiveness
What is the quality you most admire in a woman?
Unselfconsciousness
What do you most value in your friends?
Unswerving loyalty despite differences of opinion
Who are your favourite writers?
Bertrand Russell, William Gibson, Jack London, Neal Stephenson & Herman Hesse
Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
Atticus Finch
Who are your heroes in real life?
People figuring out the solutions themselves, now, not waiting on politicians or asking permission.
What are your favourite names?
Alexander, Ivan, Xavier
Amelia, Margaret, Persephone
What is it that you most dislike?
Ignorance, and the cock-sure attitude inherent in it.
How would you like to die?
Quietly in my sleep, suddenly and without illness.
What is your motto?
Hell is what you live through, Heaven is what you make of it.
Proust’s answers can be found here.
Tags: Bertrand Russell, Lessons Learned, living, Neal Stephenson, Ramones, truth, William Gibson
These are the ramblings of 
I googled Proust’s Questionaire since I was tired of Vanity Fair’s version and stumbled upon your page - I wanted to ask my paramour the questions as he is dealing with a terminal disease and I was curious if his answers might have changed in the year since I had previously asked him - in so doing, I saw your answers - how very apt they are - how salient and perfect! Atticus Finch! but of course! And so many other answers showed such a good mind and soul. In fact, when Tom would say ” Hmmm, I dunno” I would say “well, listen to this guy’s answers, isn’t that the best articulation of that thought or feeling?”
Jon, some made us laugh, like the answer about your appearance, and some were just brilliant in saying exactly what one thinks. So thank you for this page.
I only hope you have seen Cookie Monster answering a few of these queries on NPR, made me roar.
Hope you have all you could wish for, my friend, you have enhanced our evening no end.
All the best -
Victoria
Thank you Victoria. You have now made my day. I’d love to see your and your husbands responses as well. If you have nowhere to post them online, feel free to drop them in the comments here. I was unaware that Cookie Monster had answered the questionnaire, but to be sure, I will be searching for that clip now.