Pinball Quotes

“The Earth is God's pinball machine and each quake, tidal wave, flash flood and volcanic eruption is the result of a TILT that occurs when God, cheating, tries to win free games.”
― Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

“That's when I gave up pinball. When the times comes, everybody gives up pinball. Nothing more to it.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“It wasn't hard going to the gym, as long as he went as soon as he woke up, before he had time to think about not going. Those morning workouts made him feel like he was starting his day like a pinball, with a giant shot of momentum. The feeling sometimes didn’t wear off until six or seven at night (when it was usually overtaken by the feeling that he was just bouncing haplessly from one situation to the next without any real purpose or direction).”
― Rainbow Rowell, Attachments

“The bigger game was "pinball." [Tom] West had coined the term and all the old hands used it. "You win one game you get to play another. You win with this machine you get to build the next." Pinball was what counted. It was the tacit promise behind signing up. 228”
― Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine

“The switch was next to the door. A big lever. The moment I pulled it, a deep growl filled the room, a spine-chilling sound that seemed to rise from beneath the earth. Next came an immense flapping of wings, as if tens of thousands of birds had taken to the air at once.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“The goal of pinball is self-transformation, not self-expression.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“The last few days have already taken their toll - knocking him around like a pinball in a scoreless game.”
― Joseph MacKinnon, Cypulchre

“Purpose is how God controls the randomness of life. Without it, you’re just silver ball in the arcade game of life.”
― RJ Blizzard

“The pinball business was dirty, they said; pachinko gave off a strong odor of poverty and criminality”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko