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  • All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
    A person who never takes time off from work becomes boring and bored.
  • all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
    all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
    Hard work without time for recreation is not good for one's health, as in If Harry keeps up that grueling schedule, he's headed for a breakdown—all work and no play isn't healthy. A proverb included in James Howell's collection of 1659, this phrase remains so familiar that it is often shortened, as in the example.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Cultural  
  1. A person who never takes time off from work becomes boring and bored.


all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) Idioms  
  1. Hard work without time for recreation is not good for one's health, as in If Harry keeps up that grueling schedule, he's headed for a breakdown—all work and no play isn't healthy. A proverb included in James Howell's collection of 1659, this phrase remains so familiar that it is often shortened, as in the example.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy;" it is just as true that it makes Jill a dull girl.

From A Girl's Student Days and After by Woolley, Mary Emma

The familiar maxim, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," contains a vast amount of truth.

From The Young Man in Business by Bok, Edward William

All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy, We were not made to be delving forever with tools in close rooms.

From Heart-Histories and Life-Pictures by Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, or, at least, that’s what I’ve always been taught to believe.”

From Dorothy's Triumph by Raymond, Evelyn

The trouble has been farmers have not realized the old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

From Hidden Treasure by Simpson, John Thomas

I just don't really feel like it at the moment because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

From New York Times Apr. 17, 2018

But there never was a truer statement than that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

From Community Civics and Rural Life by Dunn, Arthur William

Is it true that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?

From The Mind and Its Education by Betts, George Herbert

Oh," said Rolfe, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

From A Terrible Temptation A Story of To-Day by Reade, Charles

Why therefore did not the diggers make it a half-holiday on the old ground, that "all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy."

From The Eureka Stockade by Carboni, Raffaello

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