PROVERB: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

ANTI-PROVERB: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.”

The popular anti-proverb has been cited in print since at least 1997.


29 December 1997, St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, Express, pg. 2C:
“Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.”

31 December 1998, The Facts (Clute, TX), “Texas Angling” by Mike Holmes, pg. 3B, col. 6:
And this timeless classic, “Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day!”

10 December 1999, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, Bill Kirby column, pg. 1D, col. 1:
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
-- Barber shop wall plaque

Google Books
1001 Internet Jokes:
Get the Jokes You’ve Been Missing
Edited by D. M. Schwab
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, Inc.
2001
Pg. 77:
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Google Books
552 questions that make you go “hmmmmm!”
87 great put downs!
Edited by Wayne Cundal
Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse
2010
Pg. 47:
Why is it that if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he’ll sit in a boat and drink beer all day?