I breathe in the soft, saturated exhalations of cedar trees and salmonberry bushes, fireweed and wood fern, marsh hawks and meadow voles, marten and harbor seal and blacktail deer. I breathe in the same particles of air that made songs in the throats of hermit thrushes and gave voices to humpback whales, the same particles of air that lifted the wings of bald eagles and buzzed in the flight of hummingbirds, the same particles of air that rushed over the sea in storms, whirled in high mountain snows, whistled across the poles, and whispered through lush equatorial gardens…air that has passed continually through life on earth. I breathe it in, pass it on, share it in equal measure with billions of other living things, endlessly, infinitely. Richard Nelson
About This Quote

When you breathe in the air, you are breathing in all of the life that has ever existed on earth. Our bodies use oxygen to produce energy. This oxygen is mostly made from carbon dioxide. Oxygen also makes up a large amount of water vapor.

When you breathe in the air, you are breathing in both oxygen and water vapor. The air can pass through your lungs and into your bloodstream. Then, it is distributed through the body before being exhaled out of your lungs again.

As a result of this continual exchange of gases, bacteria and other living things exist on the inside of our lungs and on our skin. The exchange of gases between living things and the atmosphere continues for billions of years…all of life that has ever existed on earth.

Source: The Island Within

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The sunlight claps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea: what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me? - Percy Bysshe Shelley
  2. In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me... - Dorothy Parker
  3. If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human. - Maggie Stiefvater
  4. A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. - Ingrid Bergman
  5. This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of... - Susan Polis Schutz
More Quotes By Richard Nelson
  1. I breathe in the soft, saturated exhalations of cedar trees and salmonberry bushes, fireweed and wood fern, marsh hawks and meadow voles, marten and harbor seal and blacktail deer. I breathe in the same particles of air that made songs in the throats of hermit...
  2. I’ve often thought of the forest as a living cathedral, but this might diminish what it truly is. If I have understood Koyukon teachings, the forest is not merely an expression or representation of sacredness, nor a place to invoke the sacred; the forest is...
  3. The mountain has left me feeling renewed, more content and positive than I’ve been for weeks, as if something has been given back after a long absence, as if my eyes have opened once again. For this time at least, I’ve let myself be rooted...
  4. Or I would be the rain itself, wreathing over the island, mingling in the quiet of moist places, filling its pores with its saturated breaths. And I would be the wind, whispering through the tangled woods, running airy fingers over the island’s face, tingling in...
  5. What obligation is more binding than to protect the cherished, to defend whoever or whatever cannot defend itself, and to nurture in turn that which has given nourishment? I’m reminded of words written by John Seed, an Australian environmentalist. When he began considering these questions,...
Related Topics