I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's active disengagement.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Choices Quotes

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...

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...

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...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come...

You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come...

I am passionately interested in understanding how my country works. And if you want to...

I am passionately interested in understanding how my country works. And if you want to...

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.

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

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 can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you...

You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you...

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...

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...

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...

The flame is not out, but it is flickering.

The flame is not out, but it is flickering.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

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...

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of...

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of...

I treat the photograph as a work of great complexity in which you can find...

I treat the photograph as a work of great complexity in which you can find...

History's just been made for sale to an inside deal.

History's just been made for sale to an inside deal.