Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American filmmaker, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentary films. His most widely known documentaries are The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Prohibition, The Central Park Five, and The Roosevelts. Also widely known is his role as executive producer of The West, and Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth29 July 1953
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.
People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".
Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."
By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.
History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.
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 the look in the eye of a child you raise or a simple garden you tend. Do something that will last and be beautiful.
It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past
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.
The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.
impossible to imagine what we would have been like without it.