He used to say:
“When a servant is sincere, the flood of obsessive whisperings, ostentation, and distracting visions falls away.” (1)

He said: “For twenty years I never experienced a nocturnal emission, but when I entered Mecca and missed the congregational ʿIshāʾ prayer, that very night I had one.” (2)

He also said: “Among Allah’s creation are people whom even the Gardens and all the bliss they contain do not distract from Him; so how, then, could the world distract them?” (3)

He said: “In Allah’s sight this world is worth less than the wing of a mosquito. What hardship, then, is there in renouncing it? True renunciation is of Paradise itself and of the houris, until Allah sees nothing in your heart but Him.” (4)

Junayd said: “There is a saying transmitted from Abu Sulayman that I admire greatly: ‘Whoever is occupied with his own soul is diverted from people, and whoever is occupied with his Lord is diverted from both himself and people.’” (5)

Someone else reported that Abu Sulayman used to say: “The finest generosity is that which meets an actual need.” (6)

Abu Sulayman said: “Whoever seeks worldly provision lawfully, in order to spare himself from begging and to remain independent of people, will meet Allah—exalted is He—on the Day he meets Him with a face shining like the full moon. But whoever seeks the world lawfully merely to amass and boast will meet Allah—exalted is He—on the Day he meets Him while His anger is upon him.” (7)

He also said: “Some people pursued wealth, thinking it lay in amassing money—yet true wealth is contentment. They pursued ease in abundance—yet ease is in having little. They sought honor from creation—yet honor is in taqwā (God-consciousness). They sought blessing in fine, soft clothes and delicious food—yet blessing is in Islam, in modest covering, and in well-being.” (8)

He used to say: “Were it not for standing in prayer at night, I would have no desire to remain in this world; I do not wish to stay to cut canals or to plant trees.” (9)