của vua có thần, của dân có ma
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Wealth and power attract sycophants and opportunists
Literally: the king's property has spirits, the people's property has ghosts
Examples
Của vua có thần, của dân có ma, nên anh ấy luôn được nhiều người xung quanhWealth and power attract sycophants and opportunists, so he is always surrounded by many people
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “của vua có thần, của dân có ma” mean?
Wealth and power attract sycophants and opportunists Literally: the king's property has spirits, the people's property has ghosts
Is “của vua có thần, của dân có ma” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.