All The Worlds A Stage And

This is the opening of the "Seven Ages of Man" speech, delivered by the melancholy philosopher Jaques in Act II, Scene 7 of As You Like It (c. 1599). Jaques speaks in the Forest of Arden, responding to Duke Senior's remark that all people share in common misfortunes. The full speech catalogues seven stages of human life from infancy to "second childishness and mere oblivion," and its theatrical metaphor was not invented by Shakespeare — the comparison of the world to a stage predates him — but he gave it its most memorable form.