Ibrāhīm ibn Aʿyan related: I asked Sharik, “What do you say about a man who declares, ‘I do not give preference to anyone’?”
He answered, “Such a man is a fool. Were not Abu Bakr and ʿUmar themselves preferred?”

Abu Dāwūd al-Ruhāwī reported that he heard Sharik say, “ʿAlī is the best of mankind; whoever denies that has fallen into unbelief.”
I say: this wording is not reliably established from him.
Its intended meaning is correct, namely that ʿAlī was the best human being of his own time. As for claiming he is the best of all people without qualification, no Muslim would say that.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyā al-ʿUdhrī said, “The most knowledgeable person in Kūfa is Sufyān, and the quickest to answer is Sharik,” and he mentioned the rest of the story.

Al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād narrated: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh (Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal) about Isrāʾīl and Sharik. He replied, “Isrāʾīl keeps written notes and conveys exactly what he heard, whereas Sharik cannot be held to any standard; he would narrate a ḥadīth on the basis of mere conjecture.”

Ibn Abī Khaythama reported: Sulaymān ibn Abī Shaykh told us that Sharik once said to one of his companions, “I was forced to accept the judgeship.”
The man retorted, “And were you also forced to take the salary?”

Sulaymān added: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Muslim told me that Sharik, while serving as judge of Kūfa, set out to meet al-Khayzurān. When he reached Shāhī (1) she was delayed, so he waited for her three days. His bread had become hard, so he would soak it in water and eat it. Seeing this, al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Minhāl al-Ghanawī said in verse:

If what you claim is truly so,
That you were forced to take the judge’s chair,
Why do you station yourself every day
To greet the women pilgrims passing there?