I have not seen a poor person honored in any gathering as he was honored in the gatherings of Abu ‘Abdullah (Imam Ahmad).  He had a great liking for them, preferring them to the people (who were immersed in the life) of this world.  He was a gentle person, and he was neither hasty, nor impatient.  On the contrary, he was a humble man, endowed with surpassing calmness and dignity.  When he sat in his lessons after the ‘Asr prayer, he would not speak until he was asked a question.

—Al-Mirwazi describing his contemporary, Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal

[Tareekh Al-Islam, by Az-Dhahabi / Ibn Hanbal, p. 34]

(Read on pg 35, Salahuddin Ali Abdul Mawjood, The Biography of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Darussalam. Riyadh: 2006.)