The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

[Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq:] I remember that Aḥmad hated to have anyone write down his views or his judgments in matters of law. 29.1

[Aḥmad ibn al-Rabīʿ:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once said to us, “I heard that Isḥāq al- Kawsaj is teaching my answers to legal questions out in Khurasan. Bear witness, all of you: I renounce them all!” 29.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I once saw a man from Khurasan approach Aḥmad and give him a quire. He looked at it and when he saw that it had some of his own words in it, he grew angry and tossed the document away. 29.3

[Aḥmad al-Burjī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once said, “Sometimes a tall cap falls from the sky, and you have to move your head like this,” and he shook his head as if to keep a cap from settling on it. 29.4

What he meant was that certain people have leadership thrust upon them. He also seems to have meant that good people duck their heads modestly when that happens.

Out of modesty, too, did Aḥmad forbid people to write his words down, but God decreed that they be recorded, put in order, and made known to all.172