Learn English – How to say it? “Everything is possible” or “anything is possible”

word-usage

As you all can easily see I'm not a native speaker. Over the years I was convinced that the correct expression had to be "everything is possible" but now I'm not sure anymore.

Best Answer

Both are correct depending on what you want to say. They don't mean exactly the same thing.

"Anything is possible" is very optimistic. One would say this if they were hoping for an extraordinary event to happen. For example, "I would love to learn how to snowboard one day" could be responded with "anything is possible!". In that sense, it's a very hopeful, optimistic phrase.

"Everything is possible" means that every single thing is possible. There is a slight difference between "every" and "any"; every typically means ALL THINGS whereas any means any ONE of those things. If that makes sense. This phrase might stir up some debate because technically speaking, everything is NOT possible. It's not possible for a human to fly without any sort of assistance (as an example). While this phrase has a very similar meaning to "anything is possible", it could very well lead to people giving you retorts as to what is not possible.

I would say that "anything is possible" is far more commonly used than "everything is possible". It also sounds more colloquial for everyday use. I wouldn't blink an eye if someone said "anything is possible", but if they said "everything is possible" that might stir up some debate.