History Main / GiveAManAFish

* The Booze Traveler on learning how to make Austrian pastries: "You know what they say -- feed a man a pastry, he'll eat for a day... but teach him how to bake, and he's... gonna gain weight."

* Parodied with the [[PandaingToTheAudience Pandaren]] in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''

* Parodied in [[https://i.imgur.com/ZUTcsXr.jpeg this]] comic strip. "Teach a fish to man..."

* Or, "give a man a fish, and ''[[http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/5104 make it illegal to teach fishing]]''".

* Straight example: This trope is the reason why Heifer International exists. They donate livestock and plants to poor families around the world, as well as train them. In fact, this started when Dan West, the founder, was giving milk to refugee children and then thought that giving cows would be a better idea.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'' where during the planning to tame Adam back to his human self after turning feral from studying too hard, Jake speaks of this trope but with elephants and clowns... and comes with the idea that to civilize Adam they need to teach him to use silverware.

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/{{BornaCrime}}''. Trevor says that while it is a good thing to teach someone to fish for themselves, the knowledge ultimately becomes useless when they don't have the proper materials to utilizes it properly. It is best said in this quote: “People love to say, 'Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime. ' What they don't say is, 'And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod."

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* Deconstructed in ''Literature/{{BornaCrime}}''. Trevor says that while it is a good thing to teach someone to fish for themselves, the knowledge ultimately becomes useless when they don't have the proper materials to utilizes properly. It is best said in this quote: “People love to say, 'Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime. ' What they don't say is, 'And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod."

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.
-->'''[[Quotes/SchlockMercenary Maxim 21:]]''' Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
* The alt-text of [[http://xkcd.com/857/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' says "Give a man a fish, or he will destroy the only remaining vial of antidote."
* ''Webcomic/LolaAndMrWrinkles'': Namedropped in the "Randall the bone thief" story arc. Lola and Mr. Wrinkles express doubt whether [[HeroicDog Brutus]] can get [[LovableCoward Hugo]] to stand up to [[RascallyRaccoon Randal]]. The cat suggests Brutus could take care of the problem himself. In answer, Brutus uses the expression...[[ComicallyMissingThePoint and absolutely confuses Lola]].
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0612.html The title of that day's strip]] is, "Technically, the 'Fish' Version is a Subset of This One."
-->'''Belkar:''' Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. ''Teach'' a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime!
* From [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-03-13 This]] ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' BSideComics strip: "Couldn't you just '''give''' me a fish?"

** The Leader of the "Kaboom" playground-building team: "Take a man to Kabooming, and he Kabooms. Teach a man to Kaboom, and KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM!!"

* ''Series/YoungHercules'': The episode "Cold Feet" had Jason do this for a farming community he visited. They're regularly under threat from a group of bandits; past attempts to fight back have gone poorly, and the local government ignores their requests for help. There are too many bandits for Jason to fight alone, but he feels he's gotta do something. He offers to teach volunteers fighting moves he learned at Cheiron's academy, saying they have to do this for themselves and their loved ones. Many rally around him, but Pelia is critical. She points out Jason's just passing through and doesn't have to live with the consequences if things go wrong. Fortunately, things do work out.

!!Examples In Fiction:

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

-->If you teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a day, but if you give him a fish he'll [[{{Metaphorgotten}} just eat a bunch of fish]]!

[[AC:Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will buy a silly hat. And if you talk to hungry people about fishing, you are a consultant."

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

** Ron Swanson: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Don't teach a man to fish, and you feed yourself. He's a grown man. Fishing's not that hard".
** The Leader of the "Kaboom" playground-building team: "Take a man to Kabooming, and he Kabooms. Teach a man to Kaboom, and KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM!!".

* The Booze Traveler on learning how to make Austrian pastries: "You know what they say - feed a man a pastry, he'll eat for a day... but teach him how to bake, and he's... gonna gain weight."

[[AC:VideoGames]]

** On the subject of how incredibly addictive ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' can be:

[[AC:Webcomics]]

--> '''[[Quotes/SchlockMercenary Maxim 21:]]''' Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
* The alt-text of [[http://xkcd.com/857/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' says "Give a man a fish, or he will destroy the only remaining vial of antidote."

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0612.html here]]. The title of that day's strip is, "Technically, the 'Fish' Version is a Subset of This One."
--> '''Belkar''': Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. ''Teach'' a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime!

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings'': Give a player a fish, and he’ll probably try to sell it to an NPC fisherman. Teach a player to fish, and next week he’ll show up with the book, “The Complete Adventuring Fisherman”. He’ll start hunting for some monstrous leviathan to catch and enslave, and he’ll be dual-wielding two fishing poles.

!!RealLife/Other Examples

* Jason Love's ''Snapshots'' -- the RobinHood [[http://www.jasonlove.com/cartoons/00699-funny-cartoons-robin-hood.gif cartoon]].

* There's an unusual twist on one floating around the internet: Give a fish a fish, and you introduce the concept of slavery to an entire species. Teach a fish to fish, and you make him a mythical, nightmarish murderer feared by his own kind.
* Or, "give a man a fish, and ''[[http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/5104 make it illegal to teach fishing]]''".
* There's another version, source also unknown, although somewhat well-spread across the internet, that goes like this: "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will dragnet the bottom of the ocean floor, dump 90% of what he catches as unmarketable, pollute the skies with greasy black smoke from his fish canning factories, wipe out the various species of fish that he has been exploiting, devastate the ecosystem, process his dead into HumanResources, fall into a deadly downward spiral of food-riots and warfare, blow up the planet, and be succeeded on the top of the food-chain by cockroaches."
* Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll sit in your boat and drink all your beer.
* Quoth [[http://www.digital-web.com/articles/jeremy_keith_2/ Jeremy Keith]], on his book ''Bulletproof Ajax'': "Give someone a fish and they’ll think you’re a bit of weirdo; teach someone how to fish and they’ll wonder what fishing has got to do with web design."
* A joke/variation accredited to wives both happy and annoyed:
--> "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you get him out of the house on the weekend."
* Michael Plait is a proponent of the "teach a man to fish" paradigm and offered this gem at TAM 8:
--> "Teach a man to reason and he'll think for a lifetime."

* One [[BlackComedy dark joke]]:
--> "Light a fire for a man, and he will be warm for one night. Light a ManOnFire, and he will be warm [[MetaphoricallyTrue for the rest of his life]].

[[quoteright:300:[[Series/ParksAndRecreation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/parks_and_rec_fishing_quote_give_a_man_a_fish.jpg]]]]

--> "Light a fire for a man, and he will be warm for one night. Light a ManOnFire, and he will be warm [[MetaphoricallyTrue for the rest of his life]].

* Used incorrectly in ''[[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima Negima!]]'' by Asuna while fishing.

[[AC:WebComics]]

* The alt-text of [[http://xkcd.com/857/ this]] ''WebComic/{{XKCD}}'' says "Give a man a fish, or he will destroy the only remaining vial of antidote."

[[quoteright:254:[[Series/ParksAndRecreation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/give_a_man_a_fish.jpg]]]]

A StockAesop and StockPhrase. By now, parodied or [[PlayingWithATrope twisted]] at least as often as used straight.

* UDM President Bantu Holomisa tried to use this quote on live TV. [[https://youtu.be/l-paln54p4E?t=7 Oh, how he tried.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'': "Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and [[ImpliedDeathThreat he's warm for the rest of his life."]]

--> "Teach a man to reason and he'll think for a lifetime."

* ''Webcomic/LolaAndMrWrinkles'': Namedropped in the "Randall the bone thief" story arc. Lola and Mr. Wrinkles express doubt whether [[HeroicDog Brutus]] can get [[LovableCoward Hugo]] to stand up to [[RascallyRaccoon Randal]. The cat suggests Brutus could take care of the problem himself. In answer, Brutus uses the expression...[[ComicallyMissingThePoint and absolutely confuses Lola]].