Familiar Quotations

Chapter 59

Chapter 59135 wordsPublic domain

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

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And then, the whining schoolboy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then, the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth And then the justice,

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Full of wise saws and modern instances, And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon.

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Last scene of all, That ends this strange, eventful history, Is second childishness, and mere oblivion.