Everybody screws up, including me…It’s a question of process. We’re all going to try something. We can have disagreements that can be passionate, but they’re not loud and vociferous; they’re not personal and angry. There’s a generous spirit of collaboration.
—Ken Burns
It’s often said that the digital revolution that puts a TV camera in everyone’s hands makes everyone a filmmaker. It’s [nonsense]. What makes someone a filmmaker is somebody who knows how to tell a story and telling a story.
—Ken Burns
Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
—Ken Burns
Topics: Survival
I don’t pick subjects because I know about them. I pick subjects because I want to know about them…Everything comes with a blizzard of new things you learn.
—Ken Burns
A lot of people are drawn to film for its apparent glamour and don’t realize it’s really hard work.
—Ken Burns
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Duke Ellington American Musician
Cynthia Ozick American Novelist, Essayist
Julia Child American Cook, Author
Wendell Berry American Author, Environmentalist
Paul Auster American Novelist, Poet
Norman Mailer American Novelist, Journalist
Henry Adams American Historian
Jim Lehrer American Television Journalist
Maria Mitchell American Astronomer
Art Linkletter Canadian-born American Radio Personality