“…how closely his two buttocks resemble Hind’s!”

Muʿāwiyah turned toward him and replied, “Indeed, that was something Abū Sufyān used to admire.”

His nephew ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Umm al-Ḥakam once said to Muʿāwiyah, “So-and-so is insulting me.” Muʿāwiyah answered, “Lower yourself before the insult; it will pass and leave you behind.”

Ibn al-Aʿrābī relates that a man told Muʿāwiyah, “I have never seen anyone more contemptible than you.” Muʿāwiyah replied, “Yes you have: the one who confronts men with talk like that.”

Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ reports that Muʿāwiyah said, “Nothing delights me more than dispensing generosity—not even owning the finest red camels. [And nothing gladdens me in showing forbearance as much as the honor of victory.]⦗1⦘”

Someone else quoted him as saying, “O Banū Umayyah, meet Quraysh with forbearance. ⦗2⦘ By Allah, in the Days of Ignorance I would meet a man who showered me with abuse, and I would outdo him in forbearance—[so he would go away as my friend; if I called on him for help, he helped me, and if I rose up, he rose with me. Forbearance has never stripped a nobleman of his nobility; it only increases him in honor.]⦗3⦘”

He also said, “The bane of forbearance is humiliation,” and, “A man does not reach sound judgment until his forbearance overcomes his ignorance and his patience overcomes his desire; and that is attained only through the strength of forbearance.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr remarked, “Marvellous was Ibn Hind! We used to overawe him—and a lion crouching on its paws is no bolder—yet he would yield to us. We used to try to outwit him—and no man on earth is craftier—yet he would let himself be outwitted. By Allah, I wish we had been allowed to enjoy his presence as long as a single stone remains in this mountain,” and he pointed to Abū Qubays.⦗4⦘

A man asked Muʿāwiyah, “Who is the noblest of people?” He said, “The one most open-handed when asked, best-mannered in gatherings, and most forbearing when provoked.”

Abū ʿUbaydah Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā said that Muʿāwiyah often quoted these verses:
Nothing slays foolishness like forbearance;
 the patient man turns ignorance back upon itself.
Do not be coarse, even if you boil with rage,
 for indecency itself merits blame.
Do not sever ties with a brother for a slip,
 for the noble one forgives the fault.⦗5⦘