“Knowledge is not what is memorised; knowledge is what benefits.”

Al-Rabi‘ ibn Sulayman said he heard al-Shafi‘i say this “many times,” and Abu Nu‘aym records it in Hilyat al-Awliya’ with that chain. Coming from a man said to have memorised the Qur’an as a child and the Muwatta’ of Malik soon after, it is not a dismissal of memorisation but a reminder of what it is for.