Etymology

give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

Today it means: It is better to teach someone to do something themself than to provide the action's reward; education or training is more helpful than charity. Full definition →

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The story

Apparently coined by Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie in her 1885 novel Mrs. Dymond, although frequently now attributed to Laozi or other Chinese thinkers. Compare Chinese 授人以魚不如授人以漁 /授人以鱼不如授人以渔 (shòu rén yǐ yú bùrú shòu rén yǐ yú), which may come from the English.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.