“I will either find a way, or make one.”
— hannibal barca
Attributed to Hannibal before crossing the Alps with his army in 218 BC. When his officers told him the mountain pass was impossible, he responded with these words. Quoted on Wikiquote and referenced in multiple historical accounts of the Second Punic War.
My father made me swear an oath against Rome when I was nine years old. I spent my childhood on battlefields in Iberia, watching him fight, learning war the way other boys learned to read. When he died, I inherited his army and his grudge. At twenty-nine I marched forty thousand men and thirty-seven elephants across the Alps in winter. They said it could not be done. We lost half the army to cold, rockslides, and hostile tribes on the way. I fought Rome on Roman soil for fifteen years, won every major battle, and Rome still would not break. In the end, my own city recalled me, then betrayed me. I spent my last years in exile, running from Roman assassins, until I took poison rather than be captured. I never stopped fighting. I just ran out of places to fight from.