Khôn thế gian, làm quan địa ngục, dại thế gian, ứng trực thiên đàng

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Intelligent people suffer, while foolish ones are blessed.

Literally: Clever in the world, become an official in hell, foolish in the world, ascend directly to heaven

Examples

Anh ta khôn thế gian, làm quan địa ngục, dại thế gian, ứng trực thiên đàng nên luôn gặp khó khăn.He is clever in the world, but becomes an official in hell, foolish in the world, and ascends directly to heaven, so he always encounters difficulties.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Khôn thế gian, làm quan địa ngục, dại thế gian, ứng trực thiên đàng” mean?

Intelligent people suffer, while foolish ones are blessed. Literally: Clever in the world, become an official in hell, foolish in the world, ascend directly to heaven

Is “Khôn thế gian, làm quan địa ngục, dại thế gian, ứng trực thiên đàng” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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