Has anyone else noticed that the epigram at the start of this paper ^{Reference Hill, Roberts and Igbrude1} is incorrectly attributed? It does not express a Taoist idea, and is not the kind of thing Lao Tsu would have written. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the original source. For example, it does not appear in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (where 20 reliable quotes from Lao Tsu are listed). At least one website also wrongly lists Lao Tsu as the author, and another refers to the quotation as a Chinese proverb, but a third calls it an English proverb. (I have been wondering if the original author might actually have been contemporary, an Oxfam official for instance.) I have checked again through Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching, the only work of his that survives. ‘Give a man a fish… ’ definitely does not appear. Indeed, the only (sole) reference to fish comes in Chapter 60: ‘Governing a large country is like frying a small fish; you spoil it if you poke it around too much’. It occurs to me that a number of politicians, including particularly the Secretary of State for Health, might wisely take note of that point. What are the chances of them taking the bait?