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posted by martyb on Friday October 27 2017, @08:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the money-buys-happiness dept.

'More valuable than a regular tip': Einstein's handwritten note to courier sells for $1.5m

A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo briefly describing his theory on happy living has sold at auction in Jerusalem for $1.56m (€1.33m), according to auctioneers.

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

"It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel," said Winner's spokesman Meni Chadad, adding that the buyer was a European who wished to remain anonymous.

The note, on Imperial Hotel Tokyo stationery, says in German[1] that "a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest".

[1] The original German text was: "Stilles bescheidenes Leben gibt mehr Glück als erfolgreiches Streben, verbunden mit beständiger Unruhe."

I hope you're happy with your purchase.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @08:43AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @08:43AM (#588158)

    The irony of someone who has 1.5 million to spare purchasing this... It seems unlikely they are the person to have followed that advice.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:23AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:23AM (#588169)
      Maybe he's buying proof that Einstein was wrong ;)
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Friday October 27 2017, @09:42AM

      by driverless (4770) on Friday October 27 2017, @09:42AM (#588175)

      I wonder if the note Einstein gave to my great-grandmother is worth that much. "Zwei Hemden, diesmal nicht soviel staerke am Kragen bitte". With such a distinguished author I'm sure it must be worth something.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday October 27 2017, @07:42PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday October 27 2017, @07:42PM (#588390)

      There are those who earn that much money, and you are correct about them.
      Then there are those who are born into money, avoiding the pursuit and unrest parts...

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:01AM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:01AM (#588161)

    The meaning of "erfolgreiches Streben" is not "pursuit of success" but "successful pursuit". German for "pursuit of success" would be "Streben nach Erfolg".

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:07AM (13 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:07AM (#588162)

      The only languages in 100 years will be American, Mandarin, Muslim, Hindu, Mexican, and Slavic. Your German tongue will be a dead language so its grammar will not matter for long.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:17AM (#588165)

        If that should be the case, then it is doubly important that all the translations are as accurate as possible, as it would mean that there are few who can actually check the original.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Friday October 27 2017, @09:21AM (9 children)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Friday October 27 2017, @09:21AM (#588167) Journal

        You do realize that five of your alleged languages are not languages at all? There is no "American" language, at best a dialect, or just English done badly. Hindi is a language, but I doubt this means anything but that you cannot spell, because you are racist. Do you know how many languages there are in the Indian sub-continent? And "Mexican", ah, this marks you out as a Trump-loving Wall-wanting total American moron. Did you know that the largest number of Muslins speak languages native to Indonesia? How many Slavic languages can you identify? Slavic countries? Can you find Idaho on a map? More importantly, do you know which one of your "languages" is actually a language?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:39AM (5 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:39AM (#588174)

          Languages can change in 100 years. That is the whole point.

          Do Indonesians fly on talking Muslin carpets?

          • (Score: 2, Informative) by aristarchus on Friday October 27 2017, @09:46AM (4 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Friday October 27 2017, @09:46AM (#588176) Journal

            Yes, I remember a hundred years ago, when Spanish was called "Iberian", and German was called "Deutsch" (and it still is), and English was called "Over the English Channel talk". And American was called "English", or "Spanish" or Portugeuse, or Iriquois, or Algonquin, etc. Your knowledge of the rate of language morphology seems to be extremely stilted, and nearly non-existent. Could this be because you are a racist? Weiße Menschen sind nicht die klügsten Menschen.

            • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday October 27 2017, @10:17AM (3 children)

              by looorg (578) on Friday October 27 2017, @10:17AM (#588180)

              You remember a hundred years ago? Are you Connor MacLeod or some unholy undead abomination? Anyhow, as noted, even picking up a book in say English that is 100-, 200- years old or older and try reading it. It's almost like a completely different language sometimes. Things tend to evolve or morph over time. That said it's starting to work in the other direction to, young people today use words I have no idea what they mean or what they are talking about. It's like I'm stuck in the language bubble I learned in school and it isn't letting all the new words in.

              • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 27 2017, @12:43PM

                by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 27 2017, @12:43PM (#588192) Journal

                You remember a hundred years ago? Are you Connor MacLeod or some unholy undead abomination?

                He can remember thousands of years ago, he's aristarchus.
                He may have forgotten a bit the taste of Ρετσίνα, he moved his body on USian soil for long enough.

                Anyhow, as noted, even picking up a book in say English that is 100-, 200- years old or older and try reading it. It's almost like a completely different language sometimes.

                See? Told you so [soylentnews.org]

                --
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Friday October 27 2017, @01:55PM

                by TheRaven (270) on Friday October 27 2017, @01:55PM (#588221) Journal

                Anyhow, as noted, even picking up a book in say English that is 100-, 200- years old or older and try reading it. It's almost like a completely different language sometimes

                I enjoy the Scarlet Pimpernel series, which were written 100 years ago, and a few things from the preceding century. You have to go back 3-400 years for the drift to be noticeable - Elizabethan English is similar, but the usage is very different, anything before that and the changes are a lot more significant (original Chaucer is not something most people would read for fun, even if they enjoy the stories in the linguistically updated versions). Written English evolved a lot more slowly after the printing press.

                --
                sudo mod me up
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2017, @01:00AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2017, @01:00AM (#588487)

                Anyhow, as noted, even picking up a book in say English that is 100-, 200- years old or older and try reading it. It's almost like a completely different language sometimes.

                Yes, reading can be hard! Especially if it is in language, with words and stuff. I can really only understand stuff written between 1978 and 1992, approximately. The language became foreign after "valley girl" went away. Seriously! I was all, like, wot? Besides, who was this Eisenstein dude, anyway?

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Friday October 27 2017, @12:31PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 27 2017, @12:31PM (#588189) Journal

          or just English done badly

          Not Americans' fault though.
          You see, "Bad English" is pleonastically redundundundant. There's only one direction English can be done, and this is the "bad" direction; of course, one can do it at different levels (bad, worse, worser, the worst, worster than the worst, even beyond the worsterest, etc).

          (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 27 2017, @12:34PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 27 2017, @12:34PM (#588190) Journal

          Can you find Idaho on a map?

          Easy-peasy... look on Google-Earth for the largest concentration of potatoes in USA and that's where Idaho is.

          (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @07:38PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @07:38PM (#588387)

          Whoosh!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:21AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @09:21AM (#588168)

        when you say american, do you mean spanish or portuguese?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @12:54PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @12:54PM (#588198)

          (different AC)
          Must be Portuguese, as Spanish is already covered by Mexican.

  • (Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Friday October 27 2017, @02:08PM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday October 27 2017, @02:08PM (#588230) Homepage Journal

    Buy my books, follow the advice. You'll get rich much sooner!

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @02:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @02:29PM (#588232)

    For Einstein, leading a quiet and modest life would have got him into an extermination camp.
    His successful striving got him an invitation to the US and safety.

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