The statement "Nothing is impossible", a favorite phrase among self-help gurus, motivational speakers, and optimists in general, is provably false:
By
contradiction:
- Assume that nothing is impossible.
- Create a list of impossible tasks.
- A list of all impossible tasks will be empty.
- A non-empty list of impossible tasks cannot exist.
- It is impossible to create a list of impossible tasks that is not empty.
- Something is impossible.
- Our assumption is incorrect.