The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "For a man's belly to be filled with pus that festers within him is better for him than to be filled with poetry."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: لأن يمتلئ جوف رجل قيحا يريه خير من أن يمتلئ شعرا.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Manners (6155), and Muslim in the Book of Poetry (2257), both through Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, who related it as mentioned.His saying "yariyahu" is with a fatha on the ya and a kasra on the ra, from al-wara, which is a disease that corrupts the inside of the body. Its meaning is that pus corrupts his insides, or that there is nothing of the Quran in his heart.