vi veri universum vivus vici

by the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe

Notes

Supposedly from Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus although is is conspicuously absent from both the uncensored A and edited B text, (where the B text is the version originally shown shortly after Marlowe's Death and the A text being, supposedly, closer to Marlowe's original Manuscript.) Strangely the nature of the quote is more in keeping with the themes of truth portrayed in the original germanic Faust folk tale. Note that v was originally the consonantal u, and was written the same before the two forms became distinct, and also after in many cases, when u and v were both capitalized as V: thus, Vniversum. Also, universum is sometimes quoted with the form ueniversum (or Veniversum), which is presumably a combination of universum and oeniversum, two classically attested spellings). Recently quoted in the Alan Moore graphic novel and film adaptation, V For Vendetta, by the main character, V.