Ḍamrah, reporting from Ibn Shawdhub:
A man from Basra once said, “Unless you can attain the devotion of Thābit, the memorization of Qatādah, the scrupulousness of Ibn Sīrīn, the knowledge of al-Ḥasan, and the renunciation of Mālik ibn Dīnār, do not set out to seek knowledge.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from Qatādah, said:
“Repeating a hadith several times in the same gathering strips it of its light, and I have never asked anyone, ‘Repeat it for me.’”

With this same chain, Qatādah said:
“It used to be recommended that reports traced back to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—be recited only while in a state of ritual purity.”

Abū Hilāl said: I heard Qatādah remark, “If you want your companion to lie, coach him.”

Al-Ṭayālisī, from ʿImrān al-Qaṭṭān, from Qatādah, who said:
Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī observed, “If you wish an elder to lie, feed him the words.”

Abū Hilāl: I heard Qatādah say, “A man can be filled with speech just as he is filled with food.”

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī related that Shuʿbah said:
“We could tell what Qatādah had not heard directly and what he had heard. When he introduced a report with, ‘So-and-so said, and so-and-so said,’ we knew he had not heard it firsthand.”

Ibn Mahdī said: I heard Shuʿbah say, “I used to watch Qatādah’s mouth as he spoke; when he said, ‘He narrated to us,’ he meant, ‘I wrote it down.’”

Abū Dāwūd also said: I heard Shuʿbah say, “I would pay close attention to Qatādah’s lips. When he said, ‘Saʿīd narrated to us,’ ‘Anas narrated to us,’ or ‘Mutarrif narrated to us,’ it meant he had heard the report. But when he narrated something he had not heard himself, he would say, ‘Sulaymān ibn Yasār narrated,’ or ‘Abū Qilābah narrated.’”

ʿAffān said: Hammām told me, “Everything I report to you with the words ‘Qatādah said,’ I have heard from him directly; so if you notice any grammatical slip, correct it, for Qatādah never made mistakes in grammar.”