Dhammapada verse 69
Chapter 5, The Fool (Bālavagga) · verses 60–75
“The fool imagines that evil is sweet, so long as it has not yet ripened. But as soon as that evil ripens, they fall into suffering.”
Madhuṁvā maññati bālo, yāva pāpaṁ na paccati; Yadā ca paccati pāpaṁ, atha dukkhaṁ nigacchati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 69 mean?
Verse 69 belongs to chapter 5, The Fool (Bālavagga), which gathers verses 60–75 on the fool. It is filed under wisdom & folly, good & evil, suffering & grief. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 68 and verse 70 are part of the same passage.
The fool, in sixteen verses. The chapter is not kind about it: the fool who knows they are a fool is at least partly wise, the fool who thinks they are wise is beyond help, and the harm a fool does lands on themselves first. It includes the image of evil tasting sweet until it ripens.
More verses on this