Substance over style. Marcus Aurelius 1.10
How to improve rhetorical style? Alexander the grammarian showed Marcus that the best way to do this is incidentally, by focusing on substance instead. Clarify what you want to say first; don't go directly for style, which will show up better for you as you acquire it naturally, subconsciously, on the way toward clear communication. You can hear me read this passage <here>.
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(†) This is the same Alexander praised by Aelius Aristides, another pupil, in his twelfth oration (to the people of Cotiaeum in Asia Minor, Alexander's hometown, on the occasion of his funeral).
Παρὰ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ γραμματικοῦ τὸ ἀνεπίπληκτον καὶ τὸ μὴ ὀνειδιστικῶς ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν βάρβαρον ἢ σόλοικόν τι ἢ ἀπηχὲς προενεγκαμένων, ἀλλ̓ ἐπιδεξίως αὐτὸ μόνον ἐκεῖνο ὃ ἔδει εἰρῆσθαι προφέρεσθαι ἐν τρόπῳ ἀποκρίσεως ἢ συνεπιμαρτυρήσεως ἢ συνδιαλήψεως περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πράγματος, οὐχὶ περὶ τοῦ ῥήματος, ἢ δἰ ἑτέρας τινὸς τοιαύτης ἐμμελοῦς παρυπομνήσεως.
From Alexander the grammarian (†) I learned to refrain from criticizing language. To avoid blaming a speaker for using barbarous or bad Greek, or for saying something out of place. To offer instead what must be said about the matter at hand by way of answer or agreement or counsel, or some other skillful means calculated to address substance without drawing attention to style.
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(†) This is the same Alexander praised by Aelius Aristides, another pupil, in his twelfth oration (to the people of Cotiaeum in Asia Minor, Alexander's hometown, on the occasion of his funeral).