The foundation of knowledge is careful verification, and its fruit is safety.
The foundation of scrupulous piety is contentment, and its fruit is tranquility.
The foundation of patience is firm resolve, and its fruit is victory.
The foundation of action is tawfiq (divine enablement), and its fruit is success.
The ultimate goal of every matter is truthfulness. (1)

We were informed through al-Kudaymī; al-Aṣmaʿī narrated: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say, “The scholar is questioned about what he knows and about what he does not know; he confirms what he knows and learns what he does not know. The ignorant person, however, grows angry at learning and feels above being taught.” (2)

Abū Ḥātim reported: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān told us: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say, “Knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge of the religion—that is fiqh—and knowledge of worldly life—that is medicine. Anything else, such as poetry and the like, is mere toil and idle play.” (3)

Al-Rabīʿ said: I asked al-Shāfiʿī, “Which of the jurists is most capable in debate?” He replied, “The one who has trained his tongue to gallop across the field of expressions and does not stammer when eyes are fixed upon him.” (4) The chain of this report contains Abū Bakr al-Naqqāsh, and he is weak.

Al-Shāfiʿī also said, “What a wretched provision for the Hereafter it is to transgress against the servants.” (5)

Yūnus al-Ṣadafī said: Al-Shāfiʿī told me, “There is no path to safety from—”