He replied, “Take whatever you wish,” so I set aside a few volumes from which he had previously narrated to me (1).

Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd relates that Sufyān said, “If someone were sitting with you who would report your words to the ruler, would you dare say anything?” We answered, “No.” He said, “Yet there is with you One who conveys every word you utter.”

Sufyān also said: “Detachment (zuhd) from the world is detachment from people, and the first step toward that is detachment from your own self (2).”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Abī Khidāsh reports: Zayd ibn Abī al-Zarqāʾ told us, “I heard al-Thawrī say: I once set out on foot for the pilgrimage with Shaybān the Shepherd. Partway along the road a lion suddenly blocked our path. Shaybān shouted at it, whereupon it wagged its tail (3) like a dog. Shaybān then seized the lion by the ear and twisted it. I exclaimed, ‘Are you trying to make me a public spectacle?’ Shaybān retorted, ‘And what spectacle do you see, O Thawrī? Were it not that I loathe notoriety, I would have had all my provisions to Mecca carried on its back (4).’ ”

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥulwānī narrates: I asked Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, “Did Sufyān ever marry?” He answered, “Yes. I once saw a son of his; the boy’s mother had sent him to his father. The child came and sat before him, whereupon Sufyān remarked, ‘If only I were summoned to your funeral.’ ” I asked Muḥammad, “Was it long before he actually buried him?” He replied, “No.”

Sufyān also said: “Whoever delights in this world will have the fear of the Hereafter removed from his heart.”