Milton, Free Expression and A Bibiliophile

As a bibliophile, I was delighted to find this passage in Milton's Areopagitica:

...For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. 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 it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up for purpose to a life beyond life. 'Tis true, no age can restore a life, whereof perhaps there is no great loss; and revolution of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse.
-- John Milton, Areopagitica

Areopagitica is subtitled "A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England". It is easy to see that the context here is that Milton wanted to loosen censorship in England, lest some "vials... of living intellect" went unnoticed. In my opinion, I would go as far as saying that not only those who destroy or censure a good book are "killers of reason", but also those who don't read are.
Regarding Milton himself, let's just say that I want to join Woodsworth in saying: "Milton! Thou should'st be living at this hour:"