Einstein’s ‘Theory of Happiness’ Fetches $1.56 Million

A note Albert Einstein wrote to a bellboy while traveling in Japan in 1922 fetched over $1.5 million at a Jerusalem auction. CreditAssociated Press

More than a century ago, Albert Einstein’s celebrated theory of relativity altered the world’s understanding of space and time. This week, the wild-haired physicist’s far-simpler “theory of happiness,” imparted to a bellboy, fetched more than $1.5 million at an auction in Jerusalem.

In 1922, Einstein was at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, where he was on a lecture tour, and had recently learned that he had won the Nobel Prize. When a bellboy delivered a message to the physicist, he fished in his pocket for some change to tip him and came up empty.

Instead, Einstein offered a tip in the form of his theory on how to have a happy life.

“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness,” he wrote in German on a piece of hotel stationery.

On a second sheet, he wrote, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Einstein told the bellboy, according to the auction house, that if he was lucky, the notes might become more valuable than a regular tip. His words, befitting a man who had transformed our comprehension of the universe, were prophetic.


Two notes written by Einstein in 1922 at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The second, shorter one fetched $250,000 at auction.CreditMenahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

After authenticating the documents, he said, the auction house predicted the notes would fetch $5,000 to $8,000. Bidding began at $2,000, but quickly exploded into six figures. The room erupted into applause, Mr. Chadad said.

“It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel, and it was just wow, wow, wow,” he added. “I think the value can be explained by the fact that the story behind the tip is so uplifting and inspiring, and because Einstein continues to be a global rock star long after his death.”

Winner’s said that when the bellboy arrived at Einstein’s hotel room, the celebrated physicist had recently been informed by telegram that he would be receiving the Nobel Prize, and he had been overwhelmed by thousands of well-wishers who had flocked to see him.

It said that the bellboy went to his room just as Einstein was trying to note down his thoughts and feelings. Unable to offer a tip, “he decided to make the most of his new exalted status,” the auction house explained.

Einstein, who died in 1955, had a strong connection to Israel. He was a founder of Hebrew University and a member of its board, and bequeathed it all his papers. His wife Elsa donated a manuscript of his general theory of relativity to the university when it opened in 1925.

How does Einstein’s tip rank — even if after the fact?

One of the world’s most generous “tips” was given on March 30, 1984, at Sal’s Pizzeria in Yonkers, when a police detective named Robert Cunningham offered to give half his prize money from a $1 lottery ticket to a waitress, Phyllis Penzo.

Ms. Penzo agreed, and they picked the numbers together. The next day, the ticket won $6 million. The story was later made into a film, “It Could Happen to You.”

While Einstein’s theory of happiness affirms the value of the simple life over wealth and success, Mr. Chadad said, the hotel messenger’s descendants were, nevertheless, elated by their new riches.

“They are very, very happy,” he said.

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