Māgandiyasuttaniddesa

Suttapiṭaka · Khuddakanikāya · Mahāniddesa · Vol. 29 · Section 361

[361] Detached from whatever [views] he might wander in the world, a nāga would not take them up and speak of them. Just as the water-born lotus with its thorny stem is unsmeared by the water and by the mud, so the sage (muni), a speaker of peace, free from greed, is unsmeared by sensual pleasure and by the world.

English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.