"From the Characteristics of the Salaf"
From the morals and manners of the Salaf was that they would feel that the world was insignificant as the Messenger of Allaah said:"What is the world compared to the Afterlife except like one of you was to put his finger in a sea and see how much water it retains" (Reported by Sahih Muslim and at-Tirmidhi)
He also said:
"If the world meant as much as a wing of a mosquito to Allaah, he would have not let the disbeliever take a drink of water from it" (Reported by at-Tirmidhi)
Maalik ibn Deenar (rahimahallah) said:
"Beware of the sorcerer who enchant the hearts of the scholars distracting them from Allaah the Most High, i.e., the world. Its mature is uglier than the magic Haarut and Maarut came with, since their magic separated a man from his wife, whereas the world separates a slave from his Master".
Hasan al-Basri (rahimahullah) use to say:
"We have met a certain people to whom the world was like something entrusted to them which they would have to give back to its owner. They saw that they did not own anything therein, so they traveled lightly to the Afterlife".
'Abdullah ibn Mubaarak (rahimahullah) would say: "The world is the believer's prison. The best action in the prison is patience and control of one's anger. The believer has no country in the world. His land will be there tomorrow in the Afterlife".
One of the Salaf use to say: "If you want to be close to Allaah then put an iron wall between yourself and your desires".