John Milton. (№ 151520)

Books are not absolutely dead things, and beings, containing the seeds of life. They are pure energy and the extract of living of the mind which produced them. To kill a good book means almost the same thing to kill a man: who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God as if in the Bud. A good book is the precious life-juice of the creative spirit, embalmed and preserved as a treasure for future generations