Einstein jotted down 3 lines on a piece of paper in 1922. It just sold for $1.56 million.

Albert Einstein.
(Image credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

An auction earlier this week proved you can indeed buy happiness ... for $1.56 million. Well, sort of: Albert Einstein's theory of happiness sold for the hefty sum at auction Tuesday, NPR reports.

At the Tokyo Imperial Hotel in 1922, Einstein tipped a bellboy with two notes written on pieces of hotel stationery. On one note, Einstein described his theory of happiness: "A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness," he wrote in German. On a second note, Einstein wrote, "Where there's a will there's a way." Einstein signed and dated both notes.

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The two notes went up for auction in Jerusalem on Tuesday, where an anonymous European bidder paid $1.56 million for Einstein's theory of happiness. Another bidder took home the second note for $240,000. NPR reports that, until now, the notes had remained in that bellhop's family: the grandson of the Japanese bellboy's brother put the notes up for auction.

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Elianna Spitzer

Elianna Spitzer is a rising junior at Brandeis University, majoring in Politics and American Studies. She is also a news editor and writer at The Brandeis Hoot. When she is not covering campus news, Elianna can be found arguing legal cases with her mock trial team.q