[mesmark]

Usually if you are going to use quotes for direct speech we would probably use:
said, "quote." over told him, "quote"

if you get rid of the direct quote and just make it reported speech, then it would be good either way, but I think told him sounds better.

A couple other things are a bit awkward but taken out of context it's hard to say.
I saw another person sounds like you just met him or you don't know him
and told him I didn't think I had ever met a more interesting person. - strange that you find him the most interesting after having just met him. Or it may be 2 different people? Or there was a time lapse not mentioned?

Anyway, I hope that helps with the original question.