Hope everyone had a nice Martin Luther King, Jr. day, yesterday. In theme with my post for reading, this week, I got to thinking about the book MLK wrote. Through a community group, marriage class, a friend of ours, Ray, talked passionately about the book written by Martin Luther King, Jr. The book really inspires from what I heard. I was so inspired just listening to Ray talk about MLK, that I have added the book to my list of books to read. On that note, MLK was truly a great man. The following are some of my favorite quotes from MLK.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.”
“The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.”

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  

“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”  

“the time is always right to do the right thing”

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?”

Here’s a thought, for graduating students of 2012, why not gift the MLK book to inspire them. After all, according to a Jenkins Group survey, 42% of college graduates will never read another book. I think that is really sad!