阎王好见,小鬼难当

yán wáng hǎo jiàn , xiǎo guǐ nán dāng

lit. standing in front of the King of Hell is easy, but smaller devils are difficult to deal with (idiom)

yán

(literary) the gate of a lane

wáng

king or monarch

hǎo

good

jiàn

to see

,

xiǎo

small

guǐ

disembodied spirit; ghost; devil

nán

difficult (to...)

dāng

to be