"Virtue has a veil, vice a mask"

Virtue is described as having a veil, suggesting that goodness, integrity, and honesty are often modest and unassuming. A veil subtly conceals, but it does not distort, those who pay attention can see the truth beneath. Virtue neither boasts nor calls attention to itself, preferring to act quietly and with humility. This subtlety is not motivated by shame or deceit, but by a sense of propriety, dignity, and self-restraint. Virtue does not need displays, for its value is intrinsic and recognized by those who seek it with an honest gaze.

Vice, however, is described as wearing a mask. Unlike a veil, a mask is meant to disguise and mislead, actively concealing the wearer’s true intentions and nature. Vice is aware of its own ugliness or destructiveness and therefore chooses to hide behind a façade, attempting to appear as something it is not. The mask suggests deception and deliberate artifice; vice often adopts the outward appearance of virtue, kindness, or honor to manipulate and exploit trust. There is intentionality in a mask, it is worn with the purpose of hiding one’s identity or motives, to escape judgment or to gain advantage.

Victor Hugo’s observation speaks to the way good and evil present themselves in society. Goodness does not parade itself, it prefers to operate quietly, confident that its worth will shine through to those who can see past modest coverings. Evil, on the other hand, is fundamentally aware of its own moral deformity; it must resort to false appearances in order to function, knowing it could not survive in the open. The contrast between veil and mask powerfully captures the essential character of virtue and vice: one is humbly reserved, the other is actively deceptive. Recognizing these differences is crucial to discerning true morals from those merely imitated for gain.