Dhammapada · 22.3

Seyyo ayoguḷo bhutto, tatto aggisikhūpamo;Yañce bhuñjeyya dussīlo, raṭṭhapiṇḍaṃ asaññato.

Seyyo ayogulo bhutto, tatto aggisikhupamo; Yance bhunjeyya dussilo, ratthapindam asannato.

Better to swallow a red-hot iron ball, blazing like a tongue of fire, than for an immoral and unrestrained one to eat the country's almsfood.

— Dhammapada 22.3

Source: Pali text from the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Pali Canon (oldest extant Buddhist scripture, compiled c. 3rd century BCE). Public-domain English readings drawn from F. Max Müller's translation in Sacred Books of the East, Vol X (1881) and the Buddhist Publication Society's freely-licensed Acharya Buddharakkhita rendering.