Clive Cussler

“I was always a history buff.”

“I never had a highfalutin' view of what I write.”

“When I started writing, I just hoped for a nice little paperback series.”

“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.”

“Shipwrecks are incredible mysteries.”

“Matthew's all right. Originally, I wanted Errol Flynn, but McConaughey should be good as Dirk Pitt.”

“I don't think of myself as a writer.”

“I didn't have the great American novel burning inside me, but I felt I could try my hand at popular fiction.”

“I was the kid who stared out the window. I fantasized myself on the deck of pirate ships - Cussler at the bridge.”

“After putting the kids to bed, I would think about what I wanted to write.”

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

“I'd heard about a shipwreck that was never found - John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard. So I thought, 'Well, I'll go look for it.'”

“While like most men, Sam prided himself on being equipped with a supernatural internal compass that kept him from ever being lost, he'd also learned to concede those rare times when that compass seemed to be temporary disrepair.”

“The fascination for me is searching the unknown for a mystery.”

“After the Dirk Pitt books became best-sellers, I could afford to buy the more exotic examples of classic autos.”

“They botched 'Raise the Titanic' so badly that I waited 20 years to do it again.”

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

“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.”

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

“I collect vintage cars, so you always find them in my books.”