ProverbWisdomEnglish origin1885

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day

Meaning: Teaching someone is more valuable than doing things for them.

Origin: Often called a Chinese proverb or credited to Maimonides, but no early source supports either. The earliest known version is in Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie's novel Mrs. Dymond (1885): if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour; if you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn.

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German

  • French: Donne un poisson à un homme et il mangera un jour (literally: Give a fish to a man and he eats for a day)
  • Spanish: Dale un pez a un hombre y comerá un día (literally: Give a fish to a man and he eats one day)
  • Japanese: 魚を与えるのではなく釣り方を教えよ (Sakana wo ataeru no de wa naku tsurikata wo oshieyo) (literally: Don't give the fish, teach how to fish)
  • German: Gib einem Mann einen Fisch und du ernährst ihn für einen Tag; lehre ihn zu fischen und du ernährst ihn für sein Leben (literally: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for his life)

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