Whilst on a lecture tour in Japan in 1922, Albert Einstein, without change to tip a delivery courier, instead gave him two handwritten notes, telling him:

“Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip.”

As per usual the physicist, who is celebrated for his groundbreaking theory of relativity, was right – although I am not too sure how the courier benefited from the sale.

One of the handwritten messages that Einstein gave to the messenger in Tokyo sold at an auction in Jerusalem on Tuesday for $1,56 million (R21,4 million), reports The Telegraph:

The winning bid for the note far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of between $5,000 and $8,000, according to the website of Winner’s auction house.

“It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel,” Winner’s spokesman Meni Chadad told AFP.

The buyer was a European who wished to remain anonymous, he said.

Here’s what the notes look like:

Apparently applause broke out in the room when the sale was announced:

“I am really happy that there are people out there who are still interested in science and history and timeless deliveries in a world which is developing so fast,” the unidentified seller told AFP after the sale.

I am sure you are.

Einstein was staying at the Imperial Hotel at the time, and suggested in the notes that fulfilling a long-term ambition doesn’t necessarily guarantee happiness. The one that sold the most read:

“A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”

While the second note, which only sold for $240 000 (R3,3 million), simply read:

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Damn, Albert, right on the button.

[source:telegraph]