All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is an old proverb that means without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring. It is often shortened to "all work and no play".^[1] It was newly popularized after the phrase was featured in the 1980 horror film, The Shining.^[2]

The phrase being shown in the script of The Shining

History

Though the spirit of the proverb had been expressed previously, the modern saying first appeared in writing in Welsh writer and historian James Howell's Proverbs (1659).^[3][4][5] It has often been included in subsequent collections of proverbs and sayings.^[6]

Some writers have added a second part to the proverb, as in Harry and Lucy Concluded (1825) by the Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

See also

• Overwork
• Work–life balance