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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.

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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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but he is duller yet if he tries to mix them.

From The Book of Business Etiquette by Henney, Nella

He recognized the natural desire for innocent amusement, and the old axiom "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," had its full weight of meaning to him.

From The Mormons and the Theatre or The History of Theatricals in Utah by Lindsay, John S.

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;" it is just as true that it makes Jill a dull girl.

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

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," and the relaxation and recuperation that go with laughing should be sought with a certain amount of regularity.

From Vitality Supreme by Macfadden, Bernarr

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

And Daddy Blake believed, as do many fathers, that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

From Daddy Takes Us to the Garden The Daddy Series for Little Folks by Garis, Howard Roger

But "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," and the officers saw to it that there was plenty of entertainment for the men when the hard day's work was over.

From Army Boys in France or, From Training Camp to Trenches by Randall, Homer

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

One ought always bear in mind the adage "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

From The Children of the World by Heyse, Paul