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.
William Shakespeare

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
William Shakespeare

Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.
Confucius

The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
Oscar Wilde

When we are born we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.
William Shakespeare

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; A stage where every man must play a part, And mine is a sad one.
William Shakespeare

There is but one stage for the peasant and the actor.
Henry David Thoreau

I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.
Audrey Hepburn

Music makes me high on stage, and that's the truth. It's like being almost addicted to music.
Jimi Hendrix

I enjoyed the courtroom as just another stage but not so amusing as Broadway.
Mae West

At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage.
Bob Dylan

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
Ayn Rand

The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.
John Adams

The music industry is a strange combination of having real and intangible assets: pop bands are brand names in themselves, and at a given stage in their careers their name alone can practically gaurantee hit records.
Richard Branson

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character, would you slow down? Or speed up?
Chuck Palahniuk

The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
Charles Darwin

A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business, live concerts.
Elvis Presley

Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me.
George Bernard Shaw

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.
Charlie Chaplin