The Vanity Fair Proust Questionnaire

I found this Proust Questionnaire in Vanity Fair, from November of last year.

I think my favorite line is the last: When you are through changing, you are through.

Martha Stewart

The domestic-goddess-cum-business-guru has spent decades building her multi-million-dollar company while advising audiences on how to flambé the perfect Baked Alaska. Here, the author of this month’s Martha Stewart’s Dinner at Home dwells on indecision, García Márquez, and family.

Illustration by Risko

November 2009 

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A verdant landscape filled with beautiful animals of all kinds, harp music, cumulus clouds in a bright-blue sky, and happy people conversing pleasantly, sipping cold sake from homemade bamboo cups.What is your greatest fear?I’m a very fearless person.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Any type of indecision.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Indecision and wishy-washiness.
Which living person do you most admire?
I know too many really good people to choose just one person—and that is not indecision.
What is your greatest extravagance?
A car and driver.
What is your current state of mind?
Mildly optimistic.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
High intelligence mixed with graciousness.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Outspoken creativity.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I try not to overuse any words or phrases.
When and where were you happiest?
Right now, in the present. I have a short memory.
Who are your favorite writers?
I have too many.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Gabriel García Márquez’s original use of language.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
I have so many heroes in real life.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Seeing the success of others whom I’ve worked with or mentored.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being a teacher to millions of people.
Where would you like to live?
Where I live now (Bedford, New York).
What is your most treasured possession?
I don’t have any inanimate possessions that I couldn’t live without.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
I do not focus on misery unless it has to do with unkind and unfair treatment of humans, animals, or the environment by others.
What do you most value in your friends?
Genuine concern.
What are your favorite names?
Luke, Rufus, Ethan, and Alexis.
What is it that you most dislike?
Neglect, slovenliness, and cruelty in any form.
What is your greatest regret?
Not having a dozen offspring.
How would you like to die?
Painlessly.
What is your motto?
“When you are through changing, you are through.”