Meanwhile, it is idle to be impatient or to indulge in system-making.
Introductory
The Grammar of Science (1900)
Source: 1960 - 1970, Interview with David Sylvester 2. Spring 1965, p. 259
A Grief Observed (1961)
Context: Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask — half our great theological and metaphysical problems — are like that.
“Metaphysical problems about "mind" versus "matter" arise only from epistemological confusions.”
An Epistemological Nightmare (1982) http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/epistemologicalNightmare.html
Letter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg , November (1675) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1711&chapter=144137&layout=html&Itemid=27
Context: My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians. For I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. I say that all things are in God and move in God, thus agreeing with Paul, and, perhaps, with all the ancient philosophers, though the phraseology may be different; I will even venture to affirm that I agree with all the ancient Hebrews, in so far as one may judge from their traditions, though these are in many ways corrupted. The supposition of some, that I endeavour to prove in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus the unity of God and Nature (meaning by the latter a certain mass or corporeal matter), is wholly erroneous.
As regards miracles, I am of opinion that the revelation of God can only be established by the wisdom of the doctrine, not by miracles, or in other words by ignorance.
“I am told, in a dream … you can only get the answer to all your questions through a dream.”
Speaking of a dream not fully remembered, in Fragments of a Journal (1966)
Context: I am told, in a dream... you can only get the answer to all your questions through a dream. So in my dream, I fall asleep, and I dream, in my dream, that I'm having that absolute, revealing dream.
“I am convinced Socialism is the only answer”
Quoted on the website of the IMT http://www.marxist.com/historic-32nd-congress-of-pakistani-imt-1.htm: Statement to the 32nd congress of Pakistani Marxists
Statement to 32nd Congress of Pakistani Marxists, March 2013
Context: First of all I’d like to thank The Struggle and the IMT for giving me a chance to speak last year at their Summer Marxist School in Swat and also for introducing me to Marxism and Socialism. I just want to say that in terms of education, as well as other problems in Pakistan, it is high time that we did something to tackle them ourselves. It’s important to take the initiative. We cannot wait around for any one else to come and do it. Why are we waiting for someone else to come and fix things? Why aren’t we doing it ourselves? I would like to send my heartfelt greetings to the congress. I am convinced Socialism is the only answer and I urge all comrades to take this struggle to a victorious conclusion. Only this will free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation.
47 : The Question and its Answer, p. 78.
The Everything and the Nothing (1963)
“I am often asked is [my work] science fiction or fantasy and my answer is usually ‘Yes’.”
In a panel about his work in Comic Con 2010. Quoted in China Miéville Takes Comic Con http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/08/china-mieville-takes-comic-con.
Source: General System Theory (1968), 2. The Meaning of General Systems Theory, p. 18
