“The world's a stage, on which all men are players: they have their…” — Thomas Heywood

“The world's a stage, on which all men are players: they have their exits and their entrances; and each man in his time plays many parts.”

A memorable meditation on the roles people assume throughout life, often associated with but predating Shakespeare's similar formulation · Essay, An Apology for Actors

Thomas Heywood

About Thomas Heywood

c. 1574–August 1641

Thomas Heywood, born about 1574 and buried on 16 August 1641, was one of the great working writers of the English Renaissance: a playwright, actor, poet, translator, prose controversialist, civic pageant-maker, and indefatigable observer of London life. He has never possessed the singular cultural monumentality of…

More by Thomas Heywood