Camille (La Dame aux Camilias)

I do not draw from this story the conclusion that all women like

Marguerite are capable of doing all that she did--far from it; but

I have discovered that one of them experienced a serious love in the

course of her life, that she suffered for it, and that she died of it. I

have told the reader all that I learned. It was my duty.

I am not the apostle of vice, but I would gladly be the echo of noble

sorrow wherever I bear its voice in prayer.

The story of Marguerite is an exception, I repeat; had it not been an

exception, it would not have been worth the trouble of writing it.