One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always a focus on the way characters live, and not just the male heroes.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's...

I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's...

I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were...

I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were...

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution...

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution...

I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start...

I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start...

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment...

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment...

Wynton told us that Miles sold out, just wanted to make more money, just wanted...

Wynton told us that Miles sold out, just wanted to make more money, just wanted...

I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New...

I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New...

In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more...

In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more...

I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has...

When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has...

The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.

The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of...

It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of...

You know, Motorcycle Diaries has no incredible stories, no sudden plot twists, it doesn't play...

You know, Motorcycle Diaries has no incredible stories, no sudden plot twists, it doesn't play...