授人以鱼不如授人以渔

授人以魚不如授人以漁

shòurényǐyúbùrúshòurényǐyú

idiom

Meanings

1 give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
2 knowledge is the best charity

Characters

to give; to teach

with; by means of

to give; to teach

with; by means of

to fish; fishing

Examples

授人以鱼不如授人以渔，我们要教孩子独立思考。

Shòu rén yǐ yú bùrú shòu rén yǐ yú, wǒmen yào jiāo háizi dúlì sīkǎo.

Better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish — we should teach children to think independently.

扶贫工作要遵循授人以鱼不如授人以渔的原则。

Fúpín gōngzuò yào zūnxún shòu rén yǐ yú bùrú shòu rén yǐ yú de yuánzé.

Poverty alleviation work should follow the principle of teaching people to fish rather than just giving them fish.

Tips

memory

The two 鱼 are different characters that sound identical: 鱼 (yú, 'fish' the noun) and 渔 (yú, 'to fish' the verb — note the 氵 water radical). Same sound, swapped role: 'give them a fish (noun) is worse than giving them fishing (verb).'

history

Often attributed to the 老子 / 淮南子 tradition, but the modern phrasing in Chinese is a 20th-century back-translation of the English proverb itself attributed to Maimonides and to Lao Tzu in different traditions.

Stroke Order

授 shòu

人 rén

以 yǐ

鱼 yú

不 bù

如 rú

渔 yú