Einstein scribbled his theory of happiness in place of a tip.
It just sold for more than $1 million.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” read the other
note, written on a blank sheet of paper.
That note sold at auction
for $240,000 and was initially estimated to sell for a high of $6,000.
A note written by Albert Einstein in 1922 on a hotel notepad sold for $1.3 million at auction in Jerusalem on Oct. 24.
In November 1922, Einstein was traveling from Europe to Japan for a lecture series for which he was paid 2,000 pounds by his Japanese publisher and hosts, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography, “Einstein: His Life and Universe.” During the journey, the 43-year-old learned he’d been awarded his field’s highest prize: the Nobel Prize in physics. The award recognized his contributions to theoretical physics.
News of Einstein’s arrival spread quickly through Japan, and thousands of people flocked to catch a glimpse of the Nobel laureate. Impressed but also embarrassed by the publicity, Einstein tried to write down his thoughts and feelings from his secluded room at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
That’s when the messenger arrived with a delivery.
He either “refused to accept a tip, in line with local practice, or Einstein had no small change available,” according to the AFP.
If you are lucky, the notes themselves will someday be worth more than some spare change, Einstein said, according to the seller of the letters, a resident of Hamburg, Germany who is reported to be a relative of the messenger.
Those autographed notes, in which Einstein offered his thoughts on how to live a happy and fulfilling life, sold at a Jerusalem auction house Tuesday for a combined $1.8 million.
A picture taken on October 19, 2017, shows Gal Winner, owner and manager of the Winner’s auction house in Jerusalem, displays two notes written by Albert Einstein, in 1922, on hotel stationary from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo Japan. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)
It just sold for $1.56 million. The letter had originally been estimated to sell for between $5,000 and $8,000, according to the Winner’s Auctions and Exhibitions website.
Gal Wiener, chief executive of the auction house, said the bidding on that note began at $2,000 and escalated for about 25 minutes, the Associated Press reported.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” read the other note, written on a blank sheet of paper. That note sold at auction for $240,000 and was initially estimated to sell for a high of $6,000.
Roni Grosz, the archivist overseeing the Einstein archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the AFP that the notes help uncover the innermost thoughts of a scholar whose public profile was synonymous with scientific genius.
“What we’re doing here is painting the portrait of Einstein — the man, the scientist, his effect on the world — through his writings,” Grosz said. “This is a stone in the mosaic.”
Einstein was among the founders of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and gave the university’s first scientific lecture in 1923. He willed his personal archives, as well as the rights to his works, to the institution.
Back in 1922, Einstein six-week tour of Japan was a huge success.
“Close to twenty-five hundred paying customers showed up for his first talk in Tokyo, which lasted four hours with translation, and more thronged the Imperial Palace to watch his arrival there to meet the emperor and empress,” Isaacson wrote.
The country also left a strong impression on him.
“Of all the people I have met, I like the Japanese the most, as they are modest, intelligent, considerate, and have a feel for the art,” he wrote his sons, Isaacson’s biography recounted.
Einstein was still traveling during the Nobel award ceremony in December 1922, so he was absent when the chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics said that “there is probably no physicist living today whose name has become so widely known as that of Albert Einstein.”
Perhaps Einstein would have settled for something more “calm and modest.”
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Einstein was a phlanderer who treated his first wife like dirt. Great men aren't always good men.
10/29/2017 10:31 PM GMT+0630
Sadly, he is unable to comprehend the words calm and modest.
10/30/2017 2:13 AM GMT+0630
Do farts "tweet"?
10/28/2017 3:42 AM GMT+0630 [Edited]
There is a superb article on "Einstein and the Atomic Bomb" in http://www.doug-long.com/einstein.htm.
It is especially relevant in the current times wherein US, Russia,
France, UK, Israel, Pakistan, India, China, and North Korea have nuclear
weaponry, (US having over 4,000 of them).
The last paragraph in it says the following:
..............................
In November 1954, five months before his death, Einstein summarized his feelings about his role in the creation of the atomic bomb: "I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification - the danger that the Germans would make them."
..............................
The great and grave problem for humanity has been the lust for power and megalomania of a few people who get to be heads of state through different means ---"democratic process," either partially flawed or a complete sham, "inheritance" from a dictator, such as in Syria and North Korea, or a coup.
We are all witnessing the "complete sham" at the highest levels. Einstein went on to say "a nation needs to have at least a significant percentage of adults who possess adequate thinking/discerning ability". We did, unfortunately our electoral system allowed those adults who do not have "adequate thinking/discerning ability" to over-rule the majority who do.
The last paragraph in it says the following:
..............................
In November 1954, five months before his death, Einstein summarized his feelings about his role in the creation of the atomic bomb: "I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification - the danger that the Germans would make them."
..............................
The great and grave problem for humanity has been the lust for power and megalomania of a few people who get to be heads of state through different means ---"democratic process," either partially flawed or a complete sham, "inheritance" from a dictator, such as in Syria and North Korea, or a coup.
We are all witnessing the "complete sham" at the highest levels. Einstein went on to say "a nation needs to have at least a significant percentage of adults who possess adequate thinking/discerning ability". We did, unfortunately our electoral system allowed those adults who do not have "adequate thinking/discerning ability" to over-rule the majority who do.
Wow. Amazing. If I had those notes there is no way I would sell them, they are worth more than money.
happiness - worth more than one million $$ 
Better Headline: Einstein proves that a physicist does not a philosopher make.
If
I was a waiter, my idea of happiness would be to get a tip instead of
some words of advice from a scientist. Even a great one.
10/27/2017 7:10 AM GMT+0630
not if you were a waiter in japan 
10/29/2017 10:19 PM GMT+0630
It was a messenger, not a waiter ... and tipping is considered an insult in Japan.
Yeah, you go try that the next time you're in a tipping situation.
Try "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!"
Try "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!"
"Where
there is a will, there is a way." Did Einstein coin that? Everyone has
said/heard that one, but I'm just wondering if it was a well used phrase
in 1922, as it is today, or he was the actual originator. Because if he
wasn't the creator of that tidbit it's kind of funny, sort of like
getting a note from Stephen Hawking that might say "A penny saved is a
penny earned." Gee thanks, genius.
10/26/2017 9:33 PM GMT+0630
He was a genius for his stingy tipping.
10/29/2017 10:21 PM GMT+0630
Or was aware that tips can be an insult in Japan ...https://www.tripsavvy.com/tipping-in-japan-1458316
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