Which statement Birkin ignored.
'And we've got to live for SOMETHING, we're not just cattle that can graze and have done with it,' said Gerald.
'Tell me,' said Birkin.

'What do you live for ?' Gerald's face went baffled.
'What do I live for ?' he repeated.

'I suppose I live to work, to produce something, in so far as I am a purposive being.

Apart from that, I live because I am living.' 'And what's your work?
Getting so many more thousands of tons of coal out of the earth every day.

And when we've got all the coal we want, and all the plush furniture, and pianofortes, and the rabbits are all stewed and eaten, and we're all warm and our bellies are filled and we're listening to the young lady performing on the pianoforte--what then?
What then, when you've made a real fair start with your material things ?' Gerald sat laughing at the words and the mocking humour of the other man.