--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Vampires do breathe, by the way, but…" description: "\"“Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't move like humans'. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your b..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/robin-mckinley-1591_breathe_vampires-do-breathe-by-the-way-but-their_2956346.jpg" --- # Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't… ![“Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't move like humans'. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about…” quote by Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/robin-mckinley-1591_breathe_vampires-do-breathe-by-the-way-but-their_2956346.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/robin-mckinley-1591_breathe_vampires-do-breathe-by-the-way-but-their_2956346.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/robin-mckinley-1591_breathe_vampires-do-breathe-by-the-way-but-their_2956346.jpg) > ““Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't move like humans'. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about this situation that was like being in the arms of a sweetheart except that I was leaning against someone's naked chest. I could no more have breathed with him than I could have ignited gasoline and shot exhaust out my butt because I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car.”” [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human breathing is automatic, but forced synchronization feels absurd; the narrator compares it to an impossible, dangerous act. **In simple terms:** Breathing is natural; forced matching is impossible. Key Takeaway Recognize what is natural and what is forced. Themes biology absurdity comparison Mood reflective humorous Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - car ride - intimate moments - impossible tasks Key Concepts autonomic nervous system impossible actions Questions to Reflect On - What actions feel natural versus forced? - When does a comparison become absurd? A Different Perspective The analogy may be confusing or off‑topic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Breathing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breathing/) [Humor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humor/) [Vampires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vampires/) ## Related quotes > [“Already very near to him, she moved a bit closer. He disengaged his hand and touched her face. Her skin was like silk, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melanie-dickerson/already-very-near-to-him-she-moved-a-bit-closer-he-disengaged-his/) [Melanie Dickerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melanie-dickerson/) > [“I said with perfect honesty, "I have no intention of trying to take these suckers out by myself, no.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/i-said-with-perfect-honesty-i-have-no-intention-of-trying-to-take/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“So I, uh, sort of threw myself out of the passenger seat of a moving car. Don’t look at me like that. I’m telling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/so-i-uh-sort-of-threw-myself-out-of-the-passenger-seat-of-a-moving/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [“Its the littlest things that make me stop and remember you. Like that old song we always used to listen to, me in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-heller/its-the-littlest-things-that-make-me-stop-and-remember-you-like-that/) [Elizabeth Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-heller/) > [“I'm not sure if all Syrena have bulletproof endurance or if Galen is particularly blessed with it. Even now, as I lock the front…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-banks/i-m-not-sure-if-all-syrena-have-bulletproof-endurance-or-if-galen-is/) [Anna Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-banks/) > [“What matters is that you find the right person with whom to spend your time on this earth. Someone who will take care of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-deruiter/what-matters-is-that-you-find-the-right-person-with-whom-to-spend/) Geraldine DeRuiter > [“I’d never been with anyone like Marlboro Man. He was attentive--the polar opposite of aloof--and after my eighteenth-month-long college relationship with my freshman love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ree-drummond/i-d-never-been-with-anyone-like-marlboro-man-he-was-attentive-the/) [Ree Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ree-drummond/) > [“He stood on the stoop and watched them walk down the path. 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She’d come home with me to act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-mcgarry/lila-sat-in-the-passenger-seat-and-i-sat-in-the-driver-s-side-of/) [Katie McGarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-mcgarry/) > [I'm somebody who doesn't feel the need to be in the driver's seat all the time. I appreciate the perspective of being in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-ward/i-m-somebody-who-doesn-t-feel-the-need-to-be-in-the-driver-s-seat-all/) [M. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-ward/) ## More by Robin McKinley > [It's hard to look too grand when you're led by someone who looks like a pudding with legs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/it-s-hard-to-look-too-grand-when-you-re-led-by-someone-who-looks-like/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“The most serious drawback to the telling-nothing approach is that it made that much more of a mystery of what had happened, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/the-most-serious-drawback-to-the-telling-nothing-approach-is-that-it/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [The magic in that country was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk-dust and over floors and shelves like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/the-magic-in-that-country-was-so-thick-and-tenacious-that-it-settled/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“There was something very odd about the carpet this morning… More hedgehogs? 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"I am sorry, you ugly creature,"… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/the-sheep-sidled-up-beside-him-and-bumped-him-lovingly-with-its-head/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [I long for another human face just as I fear it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/i-long-for-another-human-face-just-as-i-fear-it/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“Rosie hated her curly golden hair. When she was old enough to hold minimal conversations, the itsy-bitsy-cutesycoo sort of grown-ups would pull the soft…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/rosie-hated-her-curly-golden-hair-when-she-was-old-enough-to-hold/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“There was, too, a reality to her new life that her old life had lacked, and she realized with a shock that she had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/there-was-too-a-reality-to-her-new-life-that-her-old-life-had-lacked/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [Oh,' she said, too bone-weary to pretend: 'I would far rather that I love you as I saw yesterday I do than that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/oh-she-said-too-bone-weary-to-pretend-i-would-far-rather-that-i-love/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [But I'm going to try to tell the truth. Except for the parts I'm leaving out, because there's still stuff I'm just not going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/but-i-m-going-to-try-to-tell-the-truth-except-for-the-parts-i-m/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [“The magic in that country was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk-dust and over floors and shelves like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/the-magic-in-that-country-was-so-thick-and-tenacious-that-it-settled-2/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) > [Roses are for love. Not silly sweet-hearts' love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole, love that gets you through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-mckinley/roses-are-for-love-not-silly-sweet-hearts-love-but-the-love-that/) [Robin McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) [Explore all 225 Robin McKinley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-mckinley/) ## More Breathe quotes > [“Well come and stand a little bit closer, breathe in and get a bit higher. You'll ever know what hit you when I get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/savage-garden/well-come-and-stand-a-little-bit-closer-breathe-in-and-get-a-bit/) [Savage Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/savage-garden/) > [I like fantasy, but I don't live and breathe fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/i-like-fantasy-but-i-don-t-live-and-breathe-fantasy/) [Lauren Schmidt Hissrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/) > [“Live your dreams. Breathe your dreams. Never give up on your dreams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avijeet-das/live-your-dreams-breathe-your-dreams-never-give-up-on-your-dreams/) [Avijeet Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avijeet-das/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [Dawn's faint breath breathes with your mouth at the ends of empty streets. 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It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-walters/there-were-people-asking-can-women-be-funny-people-still-ask-that-it/) [Julie Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-walters/) > [We need to be more conversant with it because science is in our lives. It's in everything. It's in the food we eat. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-alda/we-need-to-be-more-conversant-with-it-because-science-is-in-our-lives/) [Alan Alda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-alda/) > [“Before we can make seismic professional, economic, and sociological changes, we have to squeeze out of our Spanx and remember how it feels to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-hays-coomer/before-we-can-make-seismic-professional-economic-and-sociological/) [Sarah Hays Coomer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-hays-coomer/) > [Manchester United breathe football. 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Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about this situation that was like being in the arms of a sweetheart except that I was leaning against someone's naked chest. 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