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 history, which is what I do for a living.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

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...

One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always...

One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always...

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...

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...

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...

I have made all my films for my children with the exception of my first...

I have made all my films for my children with the exception of my first...

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 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...

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...

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...

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 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...