أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ ، قَالَ : زَعَمَ لِي سُفْيَانُ ، قَالَ :" كَانَ الرَّجُلُ لَا يَطْلُبُ الْعِلْمَ حَتَّى يَتَعَبَّدَ قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً "

Abu Asim told us, he said: Sufyan claimed to me, he said: “A man would not seek knowledge until he had devoted himself to worship for forty years before that.”