“There is no doubt that being human is incredibly difficult and cannot be mastered in one lifetime.”

Reported in Proceedings in honor of Mr. Justice Frankfurter and distinguished alumni at the meeting of the Council, Harvard Law School Association in Cambridge, April 30, 1960.
Other writings

Source: The Ruby Circle

Source: Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 2 (2013), p. 136

Source: Lady of Mazes (2005), Chapter 23 (p. 262).

We'll Never Conquer Space (1960)
Context: When the pioneers and adventurers of our past left their homes in search of new lands, they said good-bye forever to the place of their birth and the companions of their youth. Only a lifetime ago, parents waved farewell to their emigrating children in the virtual certainty that they would never meet again.
And now, within one incredible generation, all this has changed.

Interview, The Paris Review No. 80, Spring 2000 http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/730/the-art-of-poetry-no-80-geoffrey-hill

Source: Well Witched