“I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage where every man must play a part, And mine a sad one.”

“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.”

“Totus mundus agit histrionem. (All the World's a Stage.)"[Motto of William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (f. 1599) and its acting company, The King's Men; taken from the first play to be performed on the new stage.]”

“For where thou art, there is the world itself,With every several pleasure in the world,And where thou art not, desolation.”

“Why, then the world ’s mine oyster,Which I with sword will open.”

“If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.”

“Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.”