The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature. Here is the basic Proust Questionnaire.
__1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? Content with life.
__2.__What is your greatest fear? Losing my health.
__3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Blaming myself for things that are irrelevant.
__4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? Inconsistency
__5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mother.
__6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My apartment
__7.__What is your current state of mind? Content.
__8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Good looks.
__9.__On what occasion do you lie? When I’m afraid.
__10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? I don’t know.
__11.__Which living person do you most despise? Too personal
__12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Courage
__13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Authenticity
__14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I don’t know.
__15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? Personal
__16.__When and where were you happiest? In Austria and Jerusalem.
__17.__Which talent would you most like to have? Linguistics.
__18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My sensitivity.
__19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? ——
__20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I do not want to come back after I die.
__21.__Where would you most like to live? Jerusalem.
__22.__What is your most treasured possession? My cross.
__23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? People’s disrespect towards others, especially the ill and weak.
__24.__What is your favorite occupation? ——
__25.__What is your most marked characteristic? Reliability
__26.__What do you most value in your friends? Their intentions
__27.__Who are your favorite writers? Too many. Remarque, Tolstoy. Contemporary – Alain de Botton, Sloane Crosley, Heidi Blake.
__28.__Who is your hero of fiction? None.
__29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? None.
__30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My best friend, my parents.
__31.__What are your favorite names? Ishmael, Isaah, Konstantin.
__32.__What is it that you most dislike? Many things.
__33.__What is your greatest regret? Too personal.
__34.__How would you like to die? In my sleep.
__35.__What is your motto? Walk towards the fire.
