> > The original quote comes from Shakespeare (What else is new?):
> >
> > "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."
> > AS YOU LIKE IT, Act II, Scene VII
>
> [snip]
>
> Actually, i gave it another thought yesterday, and i found out who it was (but i couldnt reply my own post, could i? [:-)] )
>
> Ummm, your possible right about Shakespeare, but i had an other name in my head, namely "Vondel".
>
> I remembered i learned at school that Vondel said "De wereld is een schouwtoneel, elk speelt zijn rol en krijgt zijn deel" But that should not be literally translated in "All the world's a stage, and the people merely actors." But its the same idea....
>
> Humm, i'm kinda confused here. Maybe Vondel heard Shakespeare say that (or merely read it), and made his own quote, based on Shakespeare... or maybe Wolfie was wrong? LOL I dunno! Noooo! That should be impossible! j/k

I've been gloriously wrong before, that ain't news. :) No seriously, if that's Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) you're thinking of, then he was a contemporary of Shakespeare (the Webster's I have here says 1564-1616 for the Bard). So either one could very well have plagiarized from the other. Could Shakespeare read Dutch?


>
> Jom"The world's a stage, everyone plays his part and gets his share"meke

I like that. :)

Maybe you could whip over to this Joost van den Vondel page I found at
http://www.dds.nl/~ljcoster/vondel/index.htm

then follow the link giving notable examples of his poetry, and tell us if he "really sounds like" Shakespeare in Dutch, or vice versa :-)

Hmm... written Dutch doesn't seem similar to German AT ALL...