His disciples once requested him to tell them whereby he merited unusual longevity, when he replied, "I have never converted the Synagogue into a passageway for the sake of convenience; have never trodden over the heads of the holy people i.e., come late to college and stepped between the rows of attentive students; compare Abdan, and have never pronounced the priestly blessing before offering the benediction preceding it" (Meg. 27b; Soṭah 39a).
Joshua esteemed Eleazar very highly, and on one occasion called out in his emphatic manner: "Hail to thee, Father Abraham, for Eleazar b. Azariah came forth from thy loins!" (Tosef., Sotah, vii.; Hagigah 3a; Yer. Hag., beginning).
The name of Ben Azzai is applied in the same sense by the great Babylonian amora Abaye (Soṭah 45a; Ḳid. 20a; Arakhin 30b) and Raba (Er. 29a).