R. Tarfon, R. Yossi Haglili and R. Akiva were once seated in the house of Nitzah in Lod when they were asked: "What is greater? Learning or doing?" R. Tarfon said: "Doing is greater." R. Akiva: "Learning is greater." All of them responded: "Learning is greater, for learning leads to doing."
R. Yossi says: "Learning is greater, for learning preceded challah by forty years; terumoth and ma'aseroth by fifty-four years; shemitoth by sixty-one years, and Yovloth by one hundred and three years."
And just as learning is greater than doing, so is its punishment (i.e., that for not learning) greater than (that for not) doing, as it is written (Proverbs 17:14) "Freeing oneself from water (i.e., Torah) is the beginning of punishment." And just as the punishment for (not) learning is greater than that for not doing, so is its reward greater than that for doing. As it is written (Devarim 11:19) "And you shall teach your sons to speak in them (words of Torah) … (21) So that your days be prolonged and the days of your children, etc." And (Psalms 105:44) "And He gave them the lands of nations, and they inherited the toil of peoples, so that they keep (i.e., learn) His statutes and heed His laws."