Some of these paradoxes are highly unintuitive but objectively true, while others seemingly cannot exist in reality as we understand it.

1. The paradox of hedonism.
2. The black hole information paradox.
3. The catch-22.
4. The Monty Hall problem.
5. Peto’s paradox.
6. The Fermi paradox.
7. Polchinski’s paradox.
8. The observer’s paradox.

I’m a walking paradox, in conflict with my mind and actions. I’m always in pursuit of my happiness, yet I often drift off reality and think of things that make me feel bittersweet, nostalgic and just plain sad.

paradoxnoun. A person or thing having contradictory properties. He is a paradox; you would not expect him in that political party.

Antinomy (Greek ἀντί, antí, “against, in opposition to”, and νόμος, nómos, “law”) refers to a real or apparent mutual incompatibility of two laws. A paradox such as “this sentence is false” can also be considered to be an antinomy; for the sentence to be true, it must be false, and vice versa.

Existence is demonstrably paradoxical, that is, it does not make rational sense. Nature makes abundant sense but existence itself is patently irrational and, thus, possibly supernatural. So profound is this paradox that it may be forever beyond our ability to comprehend much less articulate clearly.

Paradox, apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought. The statement “Less is more” is an example.

An oxymoron is a self-contradicting word or group of words (as in Shakespeare’s line from Romeo and Juliet, “Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!”). A paradox is a statement or argument that seems to be contradictory or to go against common sense, but that is yet perhaps still true—for example, “less is more.”

One oxymoron example is “deafening silence,” which describes a silence that is so overpowering it almost feels deafening, or extremely loud—just as an actual sound would.