# Quote — Malcolm Bradbury, Stepping Westward

> "You see, you are an optimist and live on hope. I am a pessimist and live on experience."

- Author: [Malcolm Bradbury](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury.md)
- Book: [Stepping Westward](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury/stepping-westward.md)
- Page: 352
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_Bradbury#Stepping_Westward_(1965)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury/stepping-westward/you-see-you

## More from this book

> [A]nd the traffic noise that boomed in through the window was another reminder of what his spirit knew, that he was but a grain of sand in someone else's desert.

p. 150 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury/stepping-westward/a-nd-the-traffic.md)

> My experience of ships is that on them one makes an interesting discovery about the world. One finds one can do without it completely.

p. 74 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury/stepping-westward/my-experience-of-ships.md)

> The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.

p. 269 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-bradbury/stepping-westward/the-english-are.md)