"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is a proverb that means without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring.

History

Though the spirit of the proverb had been expressed previously, the modern saying first appeared in

James Howell James Howell (c. 1594 – 1666) was a 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer who is in many ways a representative figure of his age. The son of a Welsh clergyman, he was for much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother Thomas How ...

's ''Proverbs'' (1659). 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). 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 Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the n ...

In popular culture

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

's film '' The Shining'', the proverb is used to illustrate how the film's central figure, named Jack, has lost his mind when his wife discovers that he procrastinated and had written the sentence over and over again on hundreds of pages with a typewriter. Jack had been aiming to write a theatrical play, but instead wrote this proverb repeatedly using the formatting of the script (including its headings). In the 1957 film ''

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the pl ...

'', the phrase is used by a Japanese work camp commander to goad British prisoners about their progress on the eponymous bridge. Heavy metal band

Mudvayne Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...

's song "

Dull Boy "Dull Boy" is a single from American heavy metal band Mudvayne's 2007 album ''By the People, For the People'', later included on the band's 2008 studio album ''The New Game''. Lyrical themes At the beginning of the song, Chad Gray repeats " All ...

" references the proverb, in both its title and lyrics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy English proverbs