The ancients said: "Give a man a fish, and you will have a meal; teach a man to fish, and you will have a lifetime." "Give a man a fish, and you will have a meal. "Give a man a fish, and you will have three meals a day; teach a man to fish, and you will have a lifetime of benefits." "Give a man a fish, and teach him how to fish." It means not only giving people fish to eat, but also teaching them how to fish.

The ancients said: "It is better to teach people how to fish than to teach people how to fish." This means that giving people fish to eat is not as good as teaching them. The way people fish. Fish is the purpose, and fishing is the means. A fish can only satisfy temporary hunger, but it cannot satisfy long-term hunger. But "fishing" allows people to make a living. If you want to always have fish to eat, you must learn how to fish. Later generations often extended it: It is better to teach people how to obtain knowledge than to teach people how to acquire knowledge. It is better to teach people how to learn knowledge than to teach people existing knowledge. The same English proverb is: It is better to give a man a shotgun than to give him bread.