What makes the speech of the salaf more beneficial than ours?

Hamdun al-Qasar was asked:

Why is the speech of the salaf more beneficial than our speech?

He replied:

They spoke to honour Islam, to save themselves, and to seek the pleasure of al-Rahman. We speak to honour ourselves, to seek the affairs of the world, and to please the creation.

[Hilyat al-Awliya, 10/231]

@AbuIdrees

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Taken from: https://twitter.com/AbuIdrees/status/882143498513907712, 7/4/2017, 12:46 AM