Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

These lines come from Alexander Pope’s moral-epistolary poem "An Essay on Man" (1733–1734), a work written in heroic couplets that aims to “vindicate the ways of God to man” by exploring human nature, ethics, and society. The passage occurs in Epistle II (“Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to Himself, as an Individual”), where Pope reflects on passions, habits, and the gradual moral desensitization that can occur through repeated exposure. In early Georgian Britain, Pope’s verse often served as both philosophical meditation and social critique, warning how custom and familiarity can dull moral judgment and make wrongdoing seem normal or even attractive.

Pope argues that vice initially repels us—its ugliness is obvious at first sight—but repeated exposure breeds familiarity, and familiarity weakens resistance. The psychological progression he sketches is incremental: we “endure” what once shocked us, then “pity” it (finding excuses or sympathy for it), and finally “embrace” it (accepting or adopting it). The couplet is a compact account of moral habituation: character is shaped less by single dramatic choices than by small accommodations over time. Its enduring significance lies in how it captures a universal mechanism of normalization—how societies and individuals can come to tolerate, rationalize, and ultimately participate in what they once condemned.

1) "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, / As to be hated needs but to be seen; / Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, / We first endure, then pity, then embrace."