"" (or "") is Latin for "I shall either find a way or make one".. The first word "" may be omitted, corresponding to omitting the English word "either" from the translation.
The phrase has been spuriously attributed to Carthaginian General Hannibal, in response to his generals statement that it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant, during the Second Punic War in 218 BC. However there is no ancient source material for this statement.
The sentence appears in the tragedy of Seneca, spoken by Amphitryon about Hercules' return from the underworld to Megara. Here in Hercules Furens (Act II, Scene 1, line 276) we find the whole sentence, in third person: "."
It has been used as a motto for instance by Francis Bacon. as well as Robert Peary. It has remained popular in social, educational and military organizations.Cf. Chigwell School, Holton-Arms School, Capitol Technology University, South Ural State University, Combat Logistics Battalion 24, Rhodes Knights, Croxley Green#York House School, St. George's Girls' School, Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving.
In first person plural, the quote is written on an iron arch over the class of 1893 memorial gate at the University of Pennsylvania."Inveniemus viam aut faciemus" https://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/archives/20050203019 A painting in the National Portrait Gallery, formerly attributed as Sir Philip Sidney and now thought to depict his brother Robert, is adorned with the phrase.Gavin Alexander: Writing after Sidney. The Literary Response to Sir Philip Sidney 1586–1640. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York 2006, , p. 158, n. 40. In The Dunciad, Alexander Pope writes of John Henley that he "turned his rhetoric to buffoonry" by handing out medallions engraved with this motto..
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