All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is a proverb. Its meaning is that without time off from work, a person becomes bored and boring. The sentiment expressed by this proverb was first recorded thousands of years ago by the Egyptian sage Ptahhotep, who wrote in 2400 B.C. One that reckons accounts all the day passes not a happy moment. One that gladdens his heart all the day provides not for his house. The bowman hits the mark, as the steersman reaches land, by diversity of aim. He that obeys his heart shall command.[1][unreliable source] The more familiar modern saying appeared first in James Howell’s Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659) [2], and was included in later collections of proverbs.