ʿAbdān ibn ʿUthmān narrated from ʿAbd Allāh, who said:
“When a man’s virtues outweigh his faults, the faults are not mentioned; but when his faults outweigh his virtues, the virtues are not mentioned.”

Nuʿaym said: I heard Ibn al-Mubārak remark, “I am amazed at anyone who does not seek knowledge—how can his own soul ever stir him to a noble deed?”

ʿUbayd ibn Jannād related: ʿAtāʾ ibn Muslim asked me, “Have you seen Ibn al-Mubārak?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “You have never seen—nor will you ever see—his like.”

ʿUbayd ibn Jannād also said: I heard al-ʿUmarī declare, “In our age I have not seen anyone suited to this office—meaning the imamate—except Ibn al-Mubārak.”

Muʿtamar ibn Sulaymān said, “I have never met anyone like Ibn al-Mubārak; with him you obtain things that you will not find with anyone else.”

Shaqīq al-Balkhī recounted: Someone said to Ibn al-Mubārak, “After you have prayed, why do you not sit with us?” He answered, “I sit with the Companions and the Successors: I study their books and their reports. What would I do with you when you spend your time backbiting people?”

Ibn al-Mubārak also said, “Let your mainstay be the athar (transmitted reports), and take from personal opinion only what clarifies the hadith for you.”

Maḥbūb ibn al-Ḥasan reported: I heard Ibn al-Mubārak say, “Whoever is tight-fisted with knowledge is tested with one of three things: either death that removes his knowledge, or forgetfulness, or attachment to the ruler, and his knowledge is lost.”

And he said, “The first benefit of knowledge is that each of you should impart it to others.”