The Song-era calligrapher Huang Tingjian said, "The aura of a learned man's brush will show he has read a myriad of books; otherwise, he is just an unartistic bureaucrat."
同時期的書法家黃庭堅說：「士大夫筆下，使有數萬卷氣象，便無俗態，不然，一楷書吏耳。」