Should i convert string to number before comparing against a number or leave as is

Hi,

I have a question and would like a recommendation:

I have a situation where i have string "tempstring" and

tempstring = "1"

if i do the following conditional

If tempstring > 0 Then
    MsgBox ("greater than 0")
Else
    MsgBox ("NOT greater than 0")
End If

it seems to work......and i dont know why? if i change assignment to tempstring = "0" then it still works. Dont know why.

Also, i was thinking that it would not work and that i should convert the string to a number first but if it works should i?