--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Air was filtering out of my two…" description: "\"“Air was filtering out of my two collapsing lungs. Water rose, bubbling to enter, and I would have died of instantaneous pneumonia - something I have n..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/898/grace-paley-3243_ashtray_air-was-filtering-out-of-my-two-collapsi_787128.jpg" --- # Air was filtering out of my two collapsing lungs. Water… ![“Air was filtering out of my two collapsing lungs. Water rose, bubbling to enter, and I would have died of instantaneous pneumonia - something I have never heard of - if my hand had not got hold of a glass ashtray and, entirely apart from my personal decision, flung it.” quote by Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/898/grace-paley-3243_ashtray_air-was-filtering-out-of-my-two-collapsi_787128.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/898/grace-paley-3243_ashtray_air-was-filtering-out-of-my-two-collapsi_787128.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/898/grace-paley-3243_ashtray_air-was-filtering-out-of-my-two-collapsi_787128.jpg) > ““Air was filtering out of my two collapsing lungs. Water rose, bubbling to enter, and I would have died of instantaneous pneumonia - something I have never heard of - if my hand had not got hold of a glass ashtray and, entirely apart from my personal decision, flung it.”” [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A desperate act of survival emerges when a character instinctively uses an object to escape a lethal situation. **In simple terms:** Instinctive actions can save lives in crisis. Key Takeaway Trust gut reactions in emergencies. Themes survival instinct crisis human resilience Mood tense urgent Type literary survival When to use this quote - first aid training - disaster preparedness - mental health coping Key Concepts Emergency response psychology of panic literary symbolism Questions to Reflect On - How do you prepare for unexpected crises? - What role does instinct play in decision‑making? A Different Perspective Rational planning may be impossible in sudden danger. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ashtray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ashtray/) [Ashtray Entirely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ashtray-entirely-6053590/) [Collapsing Lungs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collapsing-lungs-6053587/) [Instantaneous Pneumonia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instantaneous-pneumonia-6053589/) [Lungs Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lungs-water-6053588/) ## Related quotes > [After all these years, I definitely associate having a pen in my hand with having an ashtray just out of eye line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/after-all-these-years-i-definitely-associate-having-a-pen-in-my-hand/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [“in his hand the heavy, rectangular onyx ashtray that had been on the table. Was he out of his mind? He’d crack her skull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-his-hand-the-heavy-rectangular-onyx-ashtray-that-had-been-on-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hands, matches, an ashtray. A ritual beautiful and bitter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/hands-matches-an-ashtray-a-ritual-beautiful-and-bitter/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“I had a dream about you. You had just died, and I was debating putting your body into either a coffin or a shoebox.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-had-a-dream-about-you-you-had-just-died-and-i-was-debating-putting/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Let's try and create scenes that are about something... About something deeper than this ashtray.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-de-maat/let-s-try-and-create-scenes-that-are-about-something-about-something/) [Martin de Maat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-de-maat/) > [“smarting and smoke was hanging thick in the air while the ashtray on Karras’s desk was mounded high with ashes and the twisted butts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-peter-blatty/smarting-and-smoke-was-hanging-thick-in-the-air-while-the-ashtray-on/) [William Peter Blatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-peter-blatty/) > [“If someone burns out your eye I will take your socket and use it for an ashtray.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/if-someone-burns-out-your-eye-i-will-take-your-socket-and-use-it-for/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Me and Mama never did like the smell of cigarettes but after Daddy died, sometimes we would light one up and put it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandi-morgan-denkers/me-and-mama-never-did-like-the-smell-of-cigarettes-but-after-daddy/) [Sandi Morgan Denkers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandi-morgan-denkers/) > [“She’s finished her cigarette but hasn’t put it out properly, so it’s still smoking in the ashtray. I crush mine into it, grinding until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/she-s-finished-her-cigarette-but-hasn-t-put-it-out-properly-so-it-s/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [“She reached into an alabaster box and pulled out a violet cigarette that also exactly matched her eyes. Some people just don't know when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-k-wolf/she-reached-into-an-alabaster-box-and-pulled-out-a-violet-cigarette/) [Gary K. Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-k-wolf/) > [“Six pull-tabs lay in the ashtray like scales from a mermaid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/six-pull-tabs-lay-in-the-ashtray-like-scales-from-a-mermaid/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“My mother, sitting at the kitchen table, the steam rising from her cup entwining with the smoke curling from her cigarette resting on an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-smith/my-mother-sitting-at-the-kitchen-table-the-steam-rising-from-her-cup/) [Patti Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-smith/) > [I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damien-hirst/i-think-an-ashtray-is-the-most-fantastically-real-thing/) [Damien Hirst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damien-hirst/) > [If we found an ashtray in the studio, we'd try to play it and find a part for it in a song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dusty-hill/if-we-found-an-ashtray-in-the-studio-we-d-try-to-play-it-and-find-a/) [Dusty Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dusty-hill/) > [“...doing the smoker's comedy act: he hunted automatically for an ashtray, didn't find one, tipped his ashes into the palm of his hand,...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-nell-warren/doing-the-smoker-s-comedy-act-he-hunted-automatically-for-an-ashtray/) [Patricia Nell Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-nell-warren/) ## More by Grace Paley > [The only recognizable feature of hope is action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/the-only-recognizable-feature-of-hope-is-action/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“Near home I ran through our park, where I had aired my children on weekends and late-summer afternoons. I stopped at the northeast playground,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/near-home-i-ran-through-our-park-where-i-had-aired-my-children-on/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Old age is not a good thing. It can be really hard, and those of us who have it a little easier should keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/old-age-is-not-a-good-thing-it-can-be-really-hard-and-those-of-us-who/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Well, by now you must know yourself, honey, whatever you do, life don't stop. It only sits a minute and dreams a dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/well-by-now-you-must-know-yourself-honey-whatever-you-do-life-don-t/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“Who cares?' said Judy, who didn't care.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/who-cares-said-judy-who-didn-t-care/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [The women's movement was coming, but I didn't know it in 1956-1957, when I began to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/the-women-s-movement-was-coming-but-i-didn-t-know-it-in-1956-1957/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [A joke is necessary at this time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/a-joke-is-necessary-at-this-time/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Sometimes, walking with a friend, I forget the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/sometimes-walking-with-a-friend-i-forget-the-world/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/it-wasn-t-until-i-lived-in-the-countryside-that-i-began-to-understand/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [I've started many novels, and they all ended on page seven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-ve-started-many-novels-and-they-all-ended-on-page-seven/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > […I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character. Sometimes they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-go-through-a-story-for-lies-i-might-discover-the-lie-of-trying-to/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [I didn't intend. The word "intend" is the wrong word for what I do. It's just that it's something you do, and you can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-didn-t-intend-the-word-intend-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-i-do-it-s/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“... plot, the absolute line between two points which I've always despised. Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/plot-the-absolute-line-between-two-points-which-i-ve-always-despised/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [You come to doing what you do by not being able to do something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/you-come-to-doing-what-you-do-by-not-being-able-to-do-something/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [When I was about twenty-one, I published a few poems. Maybe I wrote a couple of stories before, but I really began to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/when-i-was-about-twenty-one-i-published-a-few-poems-maybe-i-wrote-a/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) [Explore all 135 Grace Paley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) ## More Ashtray quotes > [After all these years, I definitely associate having a pen in my hand with having an ashtray just out of eye line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/after-all-these-years-i-definitely-associate-having-a-pen-in-my-hand/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [If we found an ashtray in the studio, we'd try to play it and find a part for it in a song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dusty-hill/if-we-found-an-ashtray-in-the-studio-we-d-try-to-play-it-and-find-a/) [Dusty Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dusty-hill/) > [I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damien-hirst/i-think-an-ashtray-is-the-most-fantastically-real-thing/) [Damien Hirst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damien-hirst/) > [“My mother, sitting at the kitchen table, the steam rising from her cup entwining with the smoke curling from her cigarette resting on an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-smith/my-mother-sitting-at-the-kitchen-table-the-steam-rising-from-her-cup/) [Patti Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-smith/) > [“Six pull-tabs lay in the ashtray like scales from a mermaid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/six-pull-tabs-lay-in-the-ashtray-like-scales-from-a-mermaid/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“She reached into an alabaster box and pulled out a violet cigarette that also exactly matched her eyes. Some people just don't know when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-k-wolf/she-reached-into-an-alabaster-box-and-pulled-out-a-violet-cigarette/) [Gary K. Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-k-wolf/) > [“She’s finished her cigarette but hasn’t put it out properly, so it’s still smoking in the ashtray. I crush mine into it, grinding until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/she-s-finished-her-cigarette-but-hasn-t-put-it-out-properly-so-it-s/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [“Me and Mama never did like the smell of cigarettes but after Daddy died, sometimes we would light one up and put it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandi-morgan-denkers/me-and-mama-never-did-like-the-smell-of-cigarettes-but-after-daddy/) [Sandi Morgan Denkers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandi-morgan-denkers/) > [“If someone burns out your eye I will take your socket and use it for an ashtray.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/if-someone-burns-out-your-eye-i-will-take-your-socket-and-use-it-for/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“smarting and smoke was hanging thick in the air while the ashtray on Karras’s desk was mounded high with ashes and the twisted butts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-peter-blatty/smarting-and-smoke-was-hanging-thick-in-the-air-while-the-ashtray-on/) [William Peter Blatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-peter-blatty/) > [Let's try and create scenes that are about something... About something deeper than this ashtray.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-de-maat/let-s-try-and-create-scenes-that-are-about-something-about-something/) [Martin de Maat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-de-maat/) > [“I had a dream about you. You had just died, and I was debating putting your body into either a coffin or a shoebox.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-had-a-dream-about-you-you-had-just-died-and-i-was-debating-putting/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Hands, matches, an ashtray. A ritual beautiful and bitter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/hands-matches-an-ashtray-a-ritual-beautiful-and-bitter/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“in his hand the heavy, rectangular onyx ashtray that had been on the table. Was he out of his mind? He’d crack her skull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-his-hand-the-heavy-rectangular-onyx-ashtray-that-had-been-on-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“...doing the smoker's comedy act: he hunted automatically for an ashtray, didn't find one, tipped his ashes into the palm of his hand,...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-nell-warren/doing-the-smoker-s-comedy-act-he-hunted-automatically-for-an-ashtray/) [Patricia Nell Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-nell-warren/) [Browse all 33 Ashtray quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ashtray/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Air was filtering out of my two collapsing lungs. 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