Truer Words

Wise words observed on a plaque in a Maine gift emporium:

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish...

...And he'll sit in a boat drinking beer for the rest of his life."

Cheers,

Mike

Send this post to a friend

Please help support TOP by patronizing our sponsors B&H Photo and Amazon

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Greg: "My fave: 'Give a man a fish and he has food for a day, teach a man to fish and he has to buy bamboo rods, graphite reels, monofilament lines, neoprene waders, creels, tackle boxes, lures, flies, spinners, worm rigs, slip sinkers, offset hooks, gore-tex hats, 20 pocket vests, fish finders, depth sounders, radar, boats, trailers, global positioning systems, coolers, and six packs.'"

Comments

[Paul Van]

My favorite variation comes from Terry Pratchett in one of his Discworld books: 'Give a man a fire and he's warm for today. Set a man on fire, and he's warm the rest of his life.'

[Richard]

Or the cynical version - "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he'll tell you 'Hey dude, where's my fish?'"

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Show him how to use the Internet, and he won't bother you for weeks!

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

My version of that has always been:

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish...

...And he'll starve to death long before he gets any good at it."

pax / Ctein

[Sean]

"I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart."
e.e. cummings

[Bruce Stinshoff]

Along the same lines, from a friend of mine with a private pilot's license:

If man were meant to fly...he'd have been born with a lot more money.

[wchen]

Their is a saying in ancient China which runs like this (I am not a good translater):It is better to teach one to fish rather than give one a fish.

As far as I know, our ancestor did not make beer. So I guess the one now sitting on a boat must be drinking wine though.

[Ranjit Grover]

I think it is a quote from the book Small is Beautiful by Schumacher, I mean the Teach a man fishing part of it.

[David H.]

@wchen: It's from Lao Tzu, the founder Taosim isn't it?

[Roger Bradbury]

One I saw again yesterday on a baby's bib, that I've also seen on an adult's coffee cup:

"Saw, it, wanted it, tantrum, got it!"

[Joe]

Seen on a plaque in a gift shop on Cape Cod: Some days I wake up grumpy and some days I just let him sleep.

[Mike Johnston]

These are great....

Mike

[Robert Roaldi]

Attributed to Winston Churchill: History is just one damn thing after another.

[Robert Roaldi]

A Dan Hicks song: How can I miss you if you won't go away?

[Derrel]

From the land of steelhead and salmon fishing, where "steelhead bums" roam up and down the coast from southern Oregon to British Columbia, moving from area to area, always in search of "the hot bite": Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and you'll never see him again...

[Steve Jacob]

My personal favourite misquote...

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder".

Cheers!

Steve

[John Robison]

My favorite protest T-shirt. "Stop plate tectonics"

[Paul Van]

From an Omni magazine contest many years ago: Tectonic Plates - Collect them all!

[Bruce Appelbaum]

And for the paranoid among us (from Thomas Pynchon): If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.