Quotes from Clive Cussler

I love doing the research for the novels. For me, the writing is hard work.

My forte is the plotting. You sit down, and you work out a plot.

They screwed up 'Raise the Titanic!' so badly, I stay away from Hollywood. I won't cheat my readers with another piece of crap.

My friends joke that I raised the Titanic and never left the Rockies.

I had horrible experiences in Hollywood.

People have said I belong in a rubber room because I look for wrecks, and when I find them, I just do a survey. I don't look for treasure or artifacts.

If I were to say I'm looking for treasure, people would come up with the money. When I say I'm looking for a historic wreck, they're not interested.

I am not like Stephen King, who writes one book, then writes another. I finish a book and go off and... look for wrecks. Then, six months later, I might start another book.

She was a Privately funded spy ship owned by the corporation and headed by Juan Cabtillo. The Oregon was his brain child and his one true love.

I was driving by an auto auction one day, and they were auctioning off a beautiful Hispano-Suiza. I started bidding even though I hadn't even signed up with the officials. The last bid was $50,000, and it was mine. And I thought, 'My God, what have I done? I've never spent more than $500 in my life.' That was the first one.

NUMA is basically trying to preserve our maritime heritage by finding lost shipwrecks of historical significance before they are gone.

I don't like interior decorating. It looks gorgeous, but it doesn't have that lived-in look.

I purchased a 1955 Rolls-Royce that my wife liked because it was new the year we were married. Then came a 1926 Hispano-Suiza Cabriolet that I bought at my first classic car auction after I had three martinis. As more cars were added, I had to buy a warehouse.

The truth is ships and aircraft have been vanishing with tragic regularity in every part of the world since they were invented.

A lot of people don't understand why I'm not out diving for treasure.

I like snappy dialogue and short descriptions and lots of action.

Some men play golf. I've got this crazy thing about maintaining our nation's maritime heritage.

There's no literary merit in my books.

To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering.

I'm always interested in something that's missing.

It's a job. I entertain my readers. I get up in the morning, and I start typing.

Shipwrecks are incredible mysteries.

My son's name is Dirk - I named Dirk Pitt after him when he was about three years old.

It's a quirk of mine; I love neat garages.