The world is a big stage.....

William Shakespeare is the most widely read of all Authors and the popularity of the works of Shakespeare, in English speaking countries, is second only to the Bible. He intrigues other authors. It is, therefore, not surprising that there are many quotes and quotations about William Shakespeare by his peers. 

William Shakespeare, who was an English poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist has this to say about life and acting.
Quote:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Comments: 
The few words above sum up our life on this earth.  We are just actors and script have been prepared and we just act it out. We are also impermanent , coming on stage and on-going of the stage when we are finished with our role. The script is all about us and we are the main actor in our life. But, at the same time, we act in multiple scripts as we play husband or wife in another script or lover  or father , whatever role is defined in the script and all these scripts run simultaneously until we finished our main role in our life.

William Shakespeare's understanding of life is very deep and he can expressed at such great precision of what is actually life. Some people say that we determine our destiny but others said we are just puppets on the string and everything is pre-destined.  Nobody knows exactly but the basic philosophy of life is the same. We are just actors.

The seven ages refers to the different stages in a man's life : infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice,  pantaloon and second childhood.

Frankly, we should not take life so seriously as one great Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Brahm once say " life is like watching a concert in a stadium.  You go in and watch and enjoy the whole concert and when you come out, it is the end of it. So, when you are in the stadium, you should enjoy yourself to the fullest because there is not going to another concert like this". 

Namaste.