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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Proverb suggesting that lack of free time encourages lack of spirit

Proverb suggesting that lack of free time encourages lack of spirit

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is a 17th-century 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". It was newly popularized after the phrase was featured in the 1980 horror film, 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). It has often been included in subsequent collections of proverbs and sayings.

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

References

References

  1. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
  2. Miers, Paul. (1980). "The Black Maria Rides Again: Being a Reflection on the Present State of American Film with Special Respect to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining". MLN.
  3. (1659). "Paroimiographia. Proverbs, or, old Sayed Sawes & Adages in English (or the Saxon Toung) Italian, French and Spanish whereunto the British, for their great antiquity and weight are added". Samuel Thomson.
  4. (2023-03-02). "work, n.". [[Oxford University Press]].
  5. "James Howell Quotes and Quotations". Famous Quotes and Authors.com.
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1659-works 17th-century-quotations the-shining-(franchise) english-proverbs work–life-balance works-by-james-howell
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