Lao Tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism, 4th Century BC
This is a Chinese Proverb. "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime." It is better to teach someone how to do something than to do it for them. Giving someone a fish is good for the short term, but it is better to teach them how to do it so that in the long term they can take care of themselves. For example, a mother could cook for her children, but if she never teaches them to cook, they will always be dependent on her for meals. If she teaches them how to cook they will be able to take care of themselves in the long term.
The quotation gained popularity in in 1963 after being used in the Christian Science Monitor that year. An old native American proverb had basically the same Wording. An old English proverb also appears to have had almost the same Wording. Sometimes the phrase is credited to Kuan Tzu, a Chinese Taoist philosophical text from about 2,700 years ago.
