I can't live my life under the sort of "I cannot fail" philosophy, because then every time I do fail, which feels more inevitable than me being perfect all the time, it's going to be soul crushing. And more importantly, I'll never take any risks. Damon Lindelof More Quotes by Damon Lindelof More Quotes From Damon Lindelof Hopping around time in a non-linear storytelling fashion (on 'Lost') allows you to bring back characters who are dead and, in some cases, buried. Now that time travel is the story itself, it opens up even more doors. So when an actor reads that they're getting killed off on the show, they're basically, like, 'Okay, but should I still bother to show up next week?' Damon Lindelof fashion doors character I feel like great TED Talks are ones that are a little bit subject to interpretation, that do provoke further conversation - and potentially controversy. Damon Lindelof ted-talks littles conversation When someone says something that really hurts me, I have to retweet it to let it go. Damon Lindelof retweet let-it-go hurt I was born in 1973, so I did not see 'Alien' when it was released theatrically. I saw 'Alien' when it was on Home Box Office. I think I was probably 10. Damon Lindelof office home thinking Good twists are enormously hard to come by, and I think the best ones are earned ones. The idea that a story can take a left turn on you, it's easy to do, but it has to be done very, very carefully, or else you risk losing the audience's trust. Damon Lindelof risk ideas thinking I have found, unfortunately, that if I take on too many projects at one time, there is a higher probability of those projects sucking. Damon Lindelof probability projects found I always remember liking school. Damon Lindelof remember school I don't think anybody wants to see a dour Star Trek movie. Damon Lindelof stars want thinking Anger is not a real feeling. Every time in my life I've ever been angry, it's because I was scared, or because I was sad and I didn't know it. Anger doesn't just come out of a vacuum. Damon Lindelof vacuums real feelings I've always believed that a good twist is one that, when it is presented to the audience, half of them say, 'I saw that coming.' And half of them are completely and totally shocked. Because if you don't have the half that saw it coming, then it wasn't fair: You never gave the audience a chance to guess it. Damon Lindelof twists saws half Hindsight is 20/20, but the moral of the writing for me is that when you're feeling very scared and nervous about something and you're fairly convinced that it could be a massive disaster, that's exactly the idea that you should do. Damon Lindelof feelings writing ideas I love collaborating with different people. Damon Lindelof different-peoples different people If you do something awesome, you should be proud of yourself. Damon Lindelof proud ifs should I think 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy has a very satisfying ending, and there's not really that deep of a mythological construct. Damon Lindelof trilogies lord thinking When someone says something in an interview, the beauty of Twitter is that it's a platform for instantaneous response. Damon Lindelof response platforms interviews All great sci-fi is: Be careful what you wish for. Damon Lindelof be-careful sci-fi wish I'm a huge Star Trek fan. I've seen all the shows, I've seen all the movies, but ultimately I just want a 2-hour movie that takes me to another time and place - something that entertains me. Damon Lindelof fans stars want I'll never be immune to criticism, and that's okay, and I'm very comfortable with that. Damon Lindelof okay immune criticism Connecting dots is not that rewarding of an experience. Damon Lindelof connecting-the-dots connecting dots Essentially, there's no scientific evidence whatsoever that could ever be presented to me that would wipe out my fundamental spiritual beliefs. Damon Lindelof wipe spiritual fundamentals