Al-Hasan reported: Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “That I taste a hot coal, scorching or leaving what it may, is more beloved to me than were I to say about something that happened, ‘Would that it not be so!’ or about something that did not happen, ‘Would that it were so!’”
Source: al-Zuhd wal-Raqā’iq li-Ibn al-Mubārak 1627
عَنِ الْحَسَنِ قَالَ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ رَضِيَ الله عَنْه لَأَنْ أَلْحَسَ جَمْرَةً أَحْرَقَتْ مَا أَحْرَقَتْ، وَأَبْقَتْ مَا أَبْقَتْ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ أَنْ أَقُولَ لِشَيْءٍ كَانَ لَيْتَهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ أَوْ لِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَيْتَهُ كَانَ
1627 الزهد والرقائق لابن المبارك