All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Meaning: Relentless labor without leisure deadens the mind and spirit, diminishing one's vitality and capacity for joy.
Origin: First recorded in James Howell's collection of proverbs (1659). "Jack" is any ordinary lad, and the saying defends the need for rest and amusement. Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining (1980) gave it a sinister afterlife, as the single sentence a novelist types over and over as he loses his mind.
More proverbs about Perseverance
- When poverty comes in at the door, friendship leaps out of the window. — Financial hardship exposes fair-weather friends who abandon you when material benefit dis…
- Never sound the trumpet of your own praise. — Self-promotion undermines credibility; let others recognize your worth through actions, n…
- Procrastination is the thief of time. — Delaying tasks gradually steals away your hours until nothing remains to complete them.
- Prosperity gains friends, adversity tries them. — Wealth attracts companions easily, but only hardship reveals who genuinely cares about yo…
- He who gets four pounds and spends five has no need of a purse. — Spending beyond one's means makes financial planning irrelevant; the purse empties regard…
- Quick at meat, quick at work. — Eating swiftly signals efficiency and vigor; hasty people tend to accomplish tasks with e…
From our tongue twisters
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. — A relentless run on the 'tr' sound.
- Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz. — The German 'f' / 'sch' staple.