Horace Walpole – In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves

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Welcome to The Daily Quote—a podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and today is August 18th.

Today, we celebrate Serendipity Day—a day dedicated to the magic of unexpected discoveries and delightful surprises. It’s about those moments when the universe seems to conspire in your favor, leading you to something wonderful that you weren’t even searching for. Serendipity is the art of finding something good without actually looking for it. And I have the perfect quote to capture this enchanting concept.

Today’s quote comes from the English writer, Horace Walpole, who said:

"In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves."

Now, Walpole is known for coining the very word serendipity—a term inspired by an ancient Persian fairy tale called "The Three Princes of Serendip." In this tale, the princes continuously discover things they weren't seeking. Much like the princes, Walpole understood that life's true beauty often reveals itself in unexpected curves and twists.

Imagine this: You’re on a path, maybe it’s your career, or perhaps a relationship, and you’re heading straight, aiming for a goal in the distance. But then, life throws a curveball—maybe a new opportunity, a chance meeting, or even an apparent setback. At first, you might feel off-balance, uncertain about where this detour is taking you. But then, as you round the bend, something remarkable appears—something you never anticipated, but which is just what you needed.

That’s the magic of serendipity. It’s the universe’s way of saying, “Relax, you don’t have to have it all figured out.” It’s about trusting that even the curves and unexpected turns in your journey can lead you to a place more beautiful than the one you imagined. It’s about being open to possibilities that you didn’t know existed.

Perhaps today, you’ll have your own serendipitous moment—whether it’s bumping into an old friend, stumbling upon a solution to a problem you’ve been wrestling with, or simply finding joy in a place you hadn’t thought to look. Embrace it. The beautiful moves in curves, and so should you.

And speaking of unexpected twists, did you know that today is also National Bad Poetry Day? Yes, it’s a day to celebrate the art of writing poems so wonderfully terrible that they make you smile. So, in the spirit of serendipity and delightful accidents, I’ve asked ChatGPT to come with a bad poem and asked Suno to sing it for you... so here we go.

To HEAR the song you'll have to play the episode...

Oh, serendipity, what a funny name,

You sneak up on us, playing a game.

With twists and turns and unexpected glee,

You bring us joy, wild and free.

Though planned you’re not, nor always clear,

You make us laugh, you dry a tear.

So here’s to you, with clumsy rhyme,

For stumbling on you, time after time.

It’s not Shakespeare, but hey, sometimes life’s best moments are found in the less-than-perfect, the unpolished, and the completely unexpected.

Thanks for joining me today on The Daily Quote. I hope you find a bit of serendipity in your day and embrace the beauty of those unpredictable curves. Until next time, stay open to the possibilities, and remember—bad poetry can be a beautiful thing.