To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list.

Aikin’s aphorism treats censorship as an inadvertent recommendation system. If an inquisitor (or any censor) has prohibited a book, the ban signals that the work likely contains challenging ideas, heterodox opinions, or social criticism—precisely the qualities an intellectually curious reader might seek. The line also satirizes the moral authority claimed by institutions that police reading: their “prohibited list” becomes a catalogue of what is worth thinking about. More broadly, the quote aligns with Enlightenment-era defenses of free inquiry, implying that the suppression of books often reflects fear of reasoned dissent rather than genuine concern for public virtue.