I am somewhat of a meliorist

“The French have a saying, ‘The more it changes, the more it remains the same. ’You must admit there may be a certain truth to that, especially with reference to what we call ‘society’. In effect is has not changed in its essentials from what it was in the dim past, even though we tend loosely to think of civilization as progress. I frankly no longer believe in that concept. I respect man for what he has to go through in life, and sometimes for how he does it, but he has changed little since he began to pretend he was civilized, and the same thing may be said about our society. That is how I feel, but having made that confession let me say, as you may have guessed, that I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I cannot act at all, as a pessimist”.

Bibikov sobre o 'estado das coisas',
em 'The Fixer', de Bernard Malamud, página 173.