《容斋随笔·卷六·韩退之》
《旧唐书•韩愈传》开头说： 韩愈时常以为从魏、晋以来，做文章的人拘泥于对仗，而对经典的思想意义，不再提倡，所以做文章抒发意见讲大道理，自己成为一家的新说法。
《旧唐史•韩退之传》，初言： 愈常以为魏、晋以还，为文者多拘偶对，而经诰之指归，不复振起。故所为文，抒意立言，自成一家新语，后学之士，取为师法。
The Records of the Tang Dynasty, the Biography of Han Yu begins by stating that: Han Yu often thought that since the Wei and Jin dynasties, writers had stuck to symmetry, and no longer advocated the significance of the ideas in the classics; hence, that it was up to him to start a new trend in writing, where opinions were presented and basic principles expounded. 