All Ken Burns Quotes
- Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to 20th century music (I did not say jazz) what Einstein… American
- There are no ordinary lives. Inspirational
- The flame is not out, but it is flickering. Flame
- I don't think that there has been a film that I've done that hasn't been influenced by libraries and archives. Archives
- It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn. Autumn
- I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter, better, sexier, more violent, whatever. Better
- I have made all my films for my children with the exception of my first film because my oldest daughter wasn't born when I was… All
- I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New York Times, every single day reading their jazz reviews even… Cover
- I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start editing, doing many, many versions. The music shapes the film… All
- I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now. Faulkner
- I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You can't work on a film for six years without being… Based
- In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of them I've asked, 'Who are we as Americans? All
- In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more or less locked, to amplify the emotions the filmmaker wants… Amplify
- The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could spend 50 hours on the last 25 years of jazz… Finished
- The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed. Becomes
- You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time. Essential
- When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has been a shooting ratio of 40 hours to every one… Bad
- When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have a terrific episode, but if people are falling out because… Aristotle
- You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you can vice versa, that is learning about the present through… From
- It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past Arrogance
- There is no communication in this world except between equals. Communication
- Do something that will last and be beautiful. It doesn't have to be a bridge-or a symphony or book or a business. It could be… Beautiful
- History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are. Defining
- By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz. Center
- Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America. Accompaniment