Contrary to popular belief, apparently you can buy happiness—for a whopping 1.56 million dollars.
Once upon a 1922, Albert Einstein scrawled a couple snippets of wisdom on a note he offered to a bellboy in Tokyo instead of a tip.
The renowned physicist had just found out that he won the Nobel prize in physics, so he told the boy that “if he was lucky,” the notes regarding his advice on happiness would be worth something someday. It was the best he could offer, as he didn’t have any money on him at the time.
After they sold for £1.19m ($1.56m) in an auction house in Jerusalem this week, l think it’s safe to say “lucky” is an understatement. Nearly 100 years later, the bellboy made out like a bandit with the unlikely gifting that was seemingly worthless at the time.
So what was this million-dollar message?
The first note, penned in German on stationary from the Imperial Hotel Tokyo read, “A calm and humble life will bring more happiness than the pursuit of success and the constant restlessness that comes with it.”