| All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances, | Stanzas I-III |
| And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. | Stanzas IV-VI |
| And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover, | Stanzas VII-IX |
| Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, | Stanzas X-XII |
| Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, | Stanzas XIII-XV |
| In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances; | Stanzas XVI-XVIII |
| And so he plays his part. The sixth age shiftsInto the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; | Stanzas XIX-XXI |
| His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wideFor his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,Turning again toward childish treble, pipes | Stanzas XXII-XXIV |
| And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,That ends this strange eventful history,In second childishness and mere oblivion, | Stanzas XXV-XXVII |
| Sans eyes, sans teeth, sans taste, sans everything. | Stanza XXVIII |
As You Like It: Act II, Scene 7 – Jaques Speech
July 20, 2019