Rather than hoping that everything we say is a suitable piece of advice that should be accepted, why not deliberate whether what we say is pertinent to benevolence and righteousness?

Scroll 35: Wen Zi

A piece of writing should not be esteemed for its grandiose writing style. Instead, writing should be esteemed because it can preserve the tradition of virtue. The rhetorics need not be clever and decorative, but it should be careful not to injure morality.

Scroll 47: Zheng Yao Lun