Meaning of “He who destroys a good book, kills reason…”

An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.

Areopagitica, Project Gutenberg #608. ‘As good almost kill a man as kill a good book’ follows Milton's claim that books preserve living intellect and introduces his comparison between destroying a book and killing reason. It remains a 1644 anti-licensing political-religious polemic rather than a literal equivalence in modern law, medicine or violence assessment.

Areopagitica; this is the opening clause of Milton’s longer description of a good book.

The American Scholar; Emerson argues that books should awaken independent thought rather than replace it.

Narrative, Chapter VII; the sentence follows his reading of political dialogue and speeches defending emancipation and human rights.

Of Studies; Bacon distinguishes the intellectual uses of reading, conversation, and writing within the essay’s compact account of study and judgment.