All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy explained

"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 Shining.^[2]

History

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

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy . 2023-11-24 . . en.
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 . 95 . 5 . 1360–1366 . 10.2307/2906498 . 0026-7910.
3. Book: Howell . James . 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 . 1659 . Samuel Thomson . London. It is found on page 12 of the section titled Proverbs, or Old Sayed-Sawes, and Adages in the English Toung. Howell's Proverbs is bound with Howell's Lexicon Tetraglotton (1660).
4. Book: Howell . James . Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary . 1660 . Samuel Thomson . London .

   Whereunto is adjoined a large Nomenclature of the proper Terms (in all the four) belonging to several Arts and Sciences, to Recreations, to Professions both Liberal and Mechanick, &c. divided into Fiftie two Sections; with another Volume of the Choicest Proverbs in all the said Toungs, (consisting of divers compleat Tomes) ...

   .
5. Web site: James Howell Quotes and Quotations . Famous Quotes and Authors.com . 2011-01-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20101215124957/http://famousquotesandauthors.com/authors/james_howell_quotes.html. 15 December 2010 . live.