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"''Aut inveniam viam aut faciam''" (or "''Aut viam inveniam aut faciam''") is Latin for "I shall either find a way or make one."
The first word "aut" may be omitted, corresponding to omitting the English word "either" from the translation.
The phrase has been attributed to 
It has been used as a motto for instance by Francis Bacon as well as
File:Peary autograph June 10, '07.jpg, Robert Peary's signature 10 June 1907 with quote
File:Grave of Robert Peary - rear base - Arlington National Cemetery - 2011.JPG, Peary's grave at Arlington National Cemetery
File:440_CIVIL_AFFAIRS_BN_DUI.png, Emblem of the U.S. Army
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
; when his generals told him it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant, this was supposedly his response. The first part of the sentence, "inveniam viam", "I shall find a way," also appears in other contexts in the tragedies of Seneca, spoken by Hercules and by Oedipus
Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...
, and in Seneca's ''Hercules Furens'' (Act II, Scene 1, line 276) the whole sentence appears, in third person: "inveniet viam, aut faciet."
It has been used as a motto for instance by Francis Bacon as well as Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...
. It still is popular in social, educational and military organisations.
In first person plural, the quote is written on an iron arch over the class of 1893 memorial gate at the University of Pennsylvania. A painting in the National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
*National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
*National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
, formerly attributed as Sir Philip Sidney and now thought to depict his brother Robert, is adorned with the phrase.
In '' The Dunciad'', Alexander Pope writes of John Henley that he "turned his rhetoric to buffoonry" by handing out medallions engraved with this motto..
440th Civil Affairs Battalion
The 440th Civil Affairs Battalion is a civil affairs (CA) unit of the United States Army Reserve based in Fort Carson, Colorado and organized under the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade, 351st Civil Affairs Command, United States Army Civil Affairs and ...
of Fort Carson, Colorado
File:628 Logistics Readiness Sq emblem.png, Emblem of the USAF 628th Logistics Readiness Squadron of Joint Base Charleston
File:405 Expeditionary Operations Support Sq emblem.png, Emblem of the USAF 405th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron (provisional)
File:721 Aerial Port Sq emblem.png, Emblem of the USAF 721st Aerial Port Squadron of Ramstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also ...
, Germany
File:Center for EOD and Diving logo.gif, The U.S. Navy's Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving logo
References
{{reflist Latin words and phrases Latin mottos