Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Helping someone learn a skill is more beneficial than providing temporary assistance
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Dạy một kỹ năng có lợi hơn là giúp đỡ tạm thời
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: providing food vs teaching fishing
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” mean?
Helping someone learn a skill is more beneficial than providing temporary assistance Literally: providing food vs teaching fishing
Is “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.