<P> `` All the world 's a stage '' is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare 's As You Like It , spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII . The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play , and catalogues the seven stages of a man 's life , sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man : infant , schoolboy , lover , soldier , justice , Pantalone and old age , facing imminent death . It is one of Shakespeare 's most frequently quoted passages . </P>
<P> `` All the world 's a stage '' is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare 's As You Like It , spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII . The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play , and catalogues the seven stages of a man 's life , sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man : infant , schoolboy , lover , soldier , justice , Pantalone and old age , facing imminent death . It is one of Shakespeare 's most frequently quoted passages . </P>
seven stages of life as described in as you like it
seven stages of life as described in as you like it
infant schoolboy lover soldier justice Pantalone old age
infant schoolboy lover soldier justice Pantalone old age