Proverb suggesting that lack of free time encourages lack of spirit
The phrase being shown in the script ofThe Shining
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is an oldproverb 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]
Though the spirit of the proverb had been expressed previously, the modern saying first appeared in writing in Welsh writer and historianJames Howell'sProverbs (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 inHarry and Lucy Concluded (1825) by the Irish novelistMaria Edgeworth:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
^Howell, James (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. London: Samuel Thomson. It is found on page 12 of the section titledProverbs, or Old Sayed-Sawes, and Adages in the English Toung. Howell'sProverbs is bound with Howell'sLexicon Tetraglotton (1660).
^Howell, James (1660).Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary. London: Samuel Thomson.: 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) ...
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