"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. It is often shortened to "all work and no play".[1]
Though the spirit of the proverb had been expressed previously, the modern saying first appeared in James Howell's Proverbs (1659).[2][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:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.