《汉书·传·司马迁传》
我所写的不过是记述历史故事，整理、归纳世代相传的史料，不是人们所说的著作，而您把它比作《春秋》就不对了。 
余所谓述故事，整齐其世传，非所谓作也，而君比之《春秋》，谬矣。 
What I have written has been no more than a collection of historical stories, and a list of the documents handed down to us, it is not a book as people say, and you are wrong to compare it to the Spring and Autumn Annals.