Vanessa Terkes says resilience is the quality that defines her most, describing herself as someone who always finds a way to start over, in a Proust Questionnaire published this week.
Perfect happiness, she said, would mean waking each day with the certainty of living a meaningful life. Her favorite pastimes include reading about the human mind, meditating, cooking, and spending time with family and her dog.
Terkes named impatience as her worst defect, saying she sometimes wants things to happen before they are ready. Her greatest extravagance, she added, was losing track of time in a good conversation.
On her greatest achievement, Terkes said it was not giving up. Beyond any award or recognition, she said, it was having preserved the ability to reinvent herself. She tries not to lie, she said, and if she ever does, it is only to protect a surprise, never to manipulate.
The happiest moments in her life have been simple ones, she said: sharing time with family, hugging her dog, or watching a sunrise after overcoming a difficult period.
Terkes said her greatest personal investment has been in herself, through study, therapy, and travel. The personal objects she values most are letters and photographs that connect her to people who are no longer alive.
Asked what quality she most admires in others, she said consistency between what a person says and what they do. She added that she finds despicable those who abuse power to harm the most vulnerable, though she preferred not to name anyone specifically.
