Ideas too sublime and too humble are equally ineffective and they cannot both be true.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education (1762). copy citation

add
Author Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Source Emile, or On Education
Topic ideas sublime
Date 1762
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Barbara Foxley
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5427/pg5427-images.html

Context

“It will be worse to instil, as is often done, ideas which contradict each other, and after having humbled and degraded her person and her charms as the stain of sin, to bid her reverence that same vile body as the temple of Jesus Christ. Ideas too sublime and too humble are equally ineffective and they cannot both be true. A reason adapted to her age and sex is what is needed. Considerations of duty are of no effect unless they are combined with some motive for the performance of our duty. "Quae quia non liceat non facit, illa facit."” source