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“If Pitt tells you there's a Santa Claus, hang your stocking on the mantel, because you better believe it.”
― Clive Cussler, Vixen 03

“Hi there, this is Captain Nemo of the Submarine Nautilus speaking. Over."
"You're who?"
"The guy in Twenty Zillion Leagues Under the Sea. You know. Great flick. Saw it when I was a kid in Seattle. Best part was the fight with the giant squid.”
― Clive Cussler, Night Probe!

“The bartender/cook looked as if he might have been a fixture of the desert even before the rails were laid. He had the worn look of a man who had seen more than he should and heard a thousand stories that remained in his head, classified and indexed as drama, humor, or horror. There was also an unmistakable aura of style about him, a sophistication that said he didn't belong in a godforsaken roadside tavern on a remote and seldom-traveled road through the desert.
For a fleeting instant, Pitt thought the old cook looked vaguely familiar. On reflection, though, Pitt figured the man only resembled someone he couldn't quite place.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“Loren held out her hand. "It's been fun listening to your stories, Mr...."
The old cook smiled. "Cussler, Clive Cussler. Mighty nice to have met you, ma'am."
When they were on the road again, the Pierce Arrow and its trailer smoothly rolling toward the border crossing, Pitt turned to Loren. "For a moment there, I thought the old geezer might have given me a clue to the treasure site."
"You mean Yaeger's far-out translation about a river running under an island?"
"It still doesn't seem geologically possible."
Loren turned the rearview mirror to reapply her lipstick. "If the river flowed deep enough it might conceivably pass under the Gulf."
"Maybe, but there's no way in hell to know for certain without drilling through several kilometers of hard rock."
"You'll be lucky just to find your way to the treasure cavern without a major excavation."
Pitt smiled as he stared at the road ahead. "He could really spin the yarns, couldn't he?"
"The old cook? He certainly had an active imagination."
"I'm sorry I didn't get his name."
Loren settled back in the seat and gazed out her window as the dunes gave way to a tapestry of mesquite and cactus. "He told me what it was."
"And?"
"It was an odd name." She paused, trying to remember. Then she shrugged in defeat. "Funny thing...I've already forgotten it.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“I must have entered a time warp or I've fallen into the Twilight Zone. Which is it?"
"Neither. You're at the harbor in San Felipe, and you're looking at your home for the next two weeks."
"Good lord, an honest-to-God steamboat with a walking beam engine and side paddlewheels."
"I must admit it does have an air of Mark Twain about it."
"What do you want to bet it ferried Grant's troops across the Mississippi to Vicksburg?”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“I didn't know we received CNN this deep in the Andes.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“You should see the latest computer-generated movies featuring the long-gone old stars with the new. I've watched the video of Arizona Sunset at least a dozen times."
"Who plays the leads?"
"Humphrey Bogart, Lionel Barrymore, Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts, and Tom Cruise. It's so real, you'd swear they all acted together on the set.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“Deep Fathom, this is NUMA. Our position is just south of the Magic Castle between Jungleland and the Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Please repeat your position," came the voice of the flustered mercenary who had broken in on Pitt's call to Stucky.
"What's this, a radio commercial for Disneyland?" Stucky's familiar voice popped over the speaker.
"Well, well, the genuine article. What took you so long to answer, Stucky?"
"I was listening to what my alter ego had to say. You guys landed in Chiclayo yet?"
"We were sidetracked and decided to head home," said Pitt. "Is the skipper handy?"
"He's on the bridge playing Captain Bligh, lashing the crew in an attempt to set a speed record. Another knot and our rivets will start falling out.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“What do you expect me to do, leap across space and brain them with the jawbone of an ass? Or maybe they'll go away if I throw ricks at them?”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“Picture writing, as in Egyptian hieroglyphics?"
"Very similar."
"What we might call an illustrated comic strip."
"Only without the panels. The panels were never fully deciphered.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“That madwoman threatened to shoot off my testicles.”
― Clive Cussler, Inca Gold

“Are you under surveillance?"
"I was told I'd be closely watched, but I have yet to catch anyone at it."
"You're not very observant. We have a car following us now."
"This J2X Allard looks like a fast car. Why don't you simply speed away from them."
"Speed away from them? The car following us...that's a Cadillac STS behind us. with a 300+ horsepower engine that will hurl it upwards of 260 kilometers an hour. This old Allard also has a Cadillac engine, with dual four-throat carburetors and an Iskenderian three-quarter cam."
"Which means nothing to me."
"I'm making a point. This was a very fast car nearly fifty years ago. It's still fast, but it won't go over 210 kilometers an hour, and that's with a tailwind. The bottom line is that he's got us outclassed in horsepower and top speed."
"You must be able to do something to lose them."
"There is, but I'm not sure you're going to like it.”
― Clive Cussler, Shock Wave

“You can't drive down the middle of the Mall!"
"I damned well can and will so long as we live to tell about it!”
― Clive Cussler, Flood Tide

“Julia looked at her watch. "Lunchtime," she announced, opening the picnic basket she had packed at the bed and breakfast. "Anybody besides me hungry?"
"I'm always hungry," Giordino called out from the back of the boat.
"Amazing." Pitt shook his head incredulously. "At twelve feet away, outside in a breeze with the roar of the outboard motor, he can still hear the mere mention of food."
"What delicacies have you prepared?" Giordino asked Julia, having dragged himself to the cabin doorway.
"Apples, granola bars, carrots, and herbal ice tea. You have your choice between hummus and avocado sandwiches. It's what I call a healthy lunch."
Every man on the boat looked at each of the others with utter horror. She couldn't have received a more unpalatable reaction if she had said she was volunteering their services as diaper changers at a day care center. Out of deference to Julia none of the men said anything negative, since she went to the bother of fixing lunch. The fact that she was a woman and their mothers had raised them all as gentlemen added to the dilemma. Giordino, however, did not come from the old school. He complained vociferously.
"Hummus and avocado sandwiches," he said disgustedly. "I'm going to throw myself off the boat and swim to the nearest Burger King...”
― Clive Cussler, Flood Tide

“I never got Dad's name."
"The name on an envelope that was sticking out of his pocket read 'Clive Cussler.'"
"That IS an odd name. Yet it sounds vaguely familiar."
"Whoever.”
― Clive Cussler, Atlantis Found

“When the Hispano-Suiza pulled alongside, Pitt walked over and introduced himself as the driver stepped from behind the wheel to recheck his hood latches.
"I guess we'll be competing against each other. My name is Dirk Pitt."
The driver of the Hispano, a big man with greying hair, a white beard, and blue-green eyes, stuck out a hand. "Clive Cussler."
Pitt looked at him strangely. "Do we know each other?"
"It's possible," replied Cussler, smiling. "Your name is familiar, but I can't place your face."
"Perhaps we met at a party or a car club meet."
"Perhaps.”
― Clive Cussler, Dragon

“How's your current air supply?"
"Enough to get us home if we don't stop for pizza.”
― Clive Cussler, Dragon

“Call it theft of Mr. Spock's logic.”
― Clive Cussler, Dragon

“This guy is the spitting image of Lincoln," Giordino remarked conversationally.
"That IS Abraham Lincoln," came Perlmutter's subdued voice from the doorway. He slowly sank to the deck, his back against the bulkhead, like a whale settling to the seabed. His eyes were locked on the corpse in the rocking chair as if hypnotically fixed.
Pitt stared at Perlmutter with concern and obvious skepticism. "For a renowned historian, you've taken a wrong turn, haven't you?"
Giordino knelt beside Perlmutter and offered him a drink from a water bottle. "The heat must be getting to you, big buddy."
Perlmutter waved away the water. "God oh God, I couldn't bring myself to believe it. But Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin McMasters Stanton, DID reveal the truth in his secret papers."
"What truth?" asked Pitt, curious.
He hesitated, and then his voice came almost in a whisper. "Lincoln was not shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. That is him sitting in that rocking chair.”
― Clive Cussler, Sahara