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 hour of finished film, that doesn't mean that the other 39 are bad.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

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 grew up certain for a while that I was going to be an anthropologist,...

I grew up certain for a while that I was going to be an anthropologist,...

I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely...

I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely...

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...

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter,...

I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter,...

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...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

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...

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...

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of jazz.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of jazz.

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...

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

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

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...

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

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...

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...

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 have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...

I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...

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...