Remembering MLK through Tweets

Friday, 15 January 2016

We take a mindful pause to honor the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. every year, but we remember his legacy on Twitter every day. As an icon and activist, Dr. King is an ever present topic of conversation in Tweets. We looked at how widely his quotes are circulated on Twitter, and found that in the past year alone, there have been over one million Tweets containing the words of the revered civil right leader.

On his birthday, today, let’s look back on 10 of his most Tweeted quotes, starting with his most Tweeted phrase:

MLK Most Tweeted quote

And here are the top ten quotes that continue to live on through Tweets:

  1. “The time is always right to do what is right.”
  2. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
  3. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
  4. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
  5. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
  6. “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
  7. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”
  8. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
  9. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
  10. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

For those of you who are observing the federal holiday on Monday (as we are), we encourage you to take the holiday to participate in a day of service.

Let’s continue to ring these phrases through our timelines every day as a reminder of the progress we’ve made and the work that still needs to be done.