50 Percent Quotes

#1. In countries where income from labor is most equally distributed, such as the Scandinavian countries between 1970 and 1990, the top 10 percent of earners receive about 20 percent of total wages and the bottom 50 percent about 35 percent.

Thomas Piketty

#2. America has a terrible educational problem in the sense that we have too many youngsters not finishing school. A third of our kids don't finish high school, 50 percent of minorities don't finish high school.

Colin Powell

#3. Plan Colombia was supposed to reduce Colombia's cultivation and distribution of drugs by 50 percent, but 6 years and $4.7 billion later, the drug control results are meager at best.

Jan Schakowsky

#4. In the 1970s, 3 percent of retiring members became lobbyists. Thirty years later, that number has increased by an order of magnitude. Between 1998 and 2004, more than 50 percent of senators and 42 percent of House members made that career transition.

Lawrence Lessig

#5. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge stands to not only increase the United States' oil reserves by nearly 50 percent, but it will create thousands of good U.S. jobs.

Bob Ney

#6. The wireless segment is approximately 50 percent of our business ... we believe this is an industry-wide phenomenon and that we are, in fact, maintaining if not gaining market share.

Antonio Perez

#7. The president is under 50 percent approval ratings in all the battleground states. So, you could say that President Obama is defying gravity by still being in a dead heat with Mitt Romney. And one of the reasons that he is, is because the changing face of the electorate are giving him a small boost.

Mara Liasson

#8. The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.

Jeff Cooper

#9. I've been paying a lot of money in state income taxes, and I've been happy to do it, but when this last thing happened, this 50 percent increase in the tax rate, it was just too much.

Tom Golisano

#10. I still remember my dismay in the summer of 2007 when - for the first time in the history of planet Earth - America's share of auto production dropped below 50 percent.

Seth Shostak

#11. They say the human body can lose 50 percent of its body parts and survive. But it depends on which parts, and which body.

Jan Ellison

#12. I was shocked to find out that only 50 percent of women do not engage with makeup and the reasons are: They don't know how to use it, they don't know what suits them, they don't have the time.

Charlotte Tilbury

#13. Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.

Jonah Berger

#14. There is no question that a Neanderthal could easily beat us up. So, too, presumably could their women, which may be why we are only 2 percent Neanderthal instead of 50 percent. Those bitches were too scary for us.

Bill Bryson

#15. The unemployment rate among the young in the United States is still very disconcerting, although we all know it's nowhere near as bad as it is in some of the European countries, where in some places it approaches 50 percent.

Anna Quindlen

#16. It turns out I will buy any yarn, even yarn I will never use, if the store discounts it by more than 50 percent.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

#17. Fifty percent of our country that we own, have all legal jurisdiction, have all rights to do whatever we want, lies beneath the sea and we have better maps of Mars than that 50 percent.

Robert Ballard

#18. It is a sad fact that 50 percent of marriages in this country end in divorce. But hey, the other half end in death. You could be one of the lucky ones!

Richard Jeni

#19. How do we redefine education so that 30-50 percent of inner-city children do not drop out of school, thus ensuring that millions will end up in prison?

Grace Lee Boggs

#20. If it reenters its base, I have a rule to cut at least 50 percent of the position.

David Ryan

#21. In many parts of the Bible Belt, the divorce rate was discovered to be roughly 50 percent above the national average.

Ronald J. Sider

#22. Suicide bombers caused us more than 50 percent of our casualties. The fence works. There is a decline in the number of those terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Silvan Shalom

#23. If you actually are a doctor and admitted it, you'd say, 'I don't cure a huge percentage, I don't have a 50 percent cure rate .. (but) I can have a 100 percent compassion rate,'.

Patch Adams

#24. Women are over 50 percent of the population.

Natalie Dormer

#25. For 50 percent of Americans marriage is forever, for the rest of us there is another adventure.

Barbara Feldon

#26. By 2020, 50 percent of imports should be reduced, which should become 75 percent by 2025. By 2030, India should be energy independent.

Veerappa Moily

#27. The most striking fact is no doubt that in all these societies, half of the population own virtually nothing: the poorest 50 percent invariably own less than 10 percent of national wealth, and generally less than 5 percent.

Thomas Piketty

#28. The latest consensus is that most of us are mentally elsewhere between 30 and 50 percent of our waking hours.

David DiSalvo

#29. If your company matches your 401(k) contribution, then no matter what, contribute to your 401(k) first. You put in a dollar, they put in 50 cents. It's an automatic 50 percent return on your money. You can't pass that up. I'd rather have the 50 percent than pay 32 percent interest on a credit card.

Suze Orman

#30. And another thing is that I think as a church whenever we become politically driven, we alienate at least 50 percent of the people that God called us to reach with our political orientations.

T.D. Jakes

#31. I was told 50 percent of the population gets cancer. Everybody is going to be affected.

Catherine Hardwicke

#32. I honestly feel as though I've run an obstacle course to get here. In fact, I think, they should list shopping as a cardiovascular activity. My heart never beats as fast as it does when I see a "reduced by 50 percent" sign.

Sophie Kinsella

#33. Iceland is 50 percent Celtic blood, from the females that they stole from us, which is why our country has only got dogs left. It was a joke! I'll never be let back in Scotland again!

Gerard Butler

#34. If every rich person gave 50 percent of their wealth to charity, I would not say they should pay more taxes.

George Soros

#35. We've got 50 percent voter turnout for presidential elections. That's appalling. We can do so much better.

Joan Blades

#36. Apparently, when Twin Peaks was on the air in Spain, something like 50 percent of televisions were tuned to it.

Kyle MacLachlan

#37. Income inequality increased quite sharply in the United States during the 1920s, however, peaking on the eve of the 1929 crash with more than 50 percent of national income going to the top decile -

Thomas Piketty

#38. Sound is 50 percent of the movie going experience, and I've always believed audiences are moved and excited by what they hear in my movies at least as much as by what they see.

George Lucas

#39. In some states, not even 50 percent of black boys finish high school.

Tavis Smiley

#40. Do you realize that if we could increase just by 50 percent the number of adults who have a college degree, it would add $5 billion to the economy and it would result in a net income to the state of Arkansas of $340 million a year?

Mike Huckabee

#41. defect corrections have more than a 50 percent chance of being wrong the first time

Steve McConnell

#42. If 50 percent of your career is not filled with failure, you're not really successful.

John Larroquette

#43. America's great newspapers have staffs that range from 50 percent to 70 percent of what they were just a few years ago.

Eric Alterman

#44. I don't like candy bars. I eat the big rectangular bars. You know - anything between 85 and 50 percent cocoa.

Andrew Luck

#45. If you have a 50 percent match and you get in trouble financially, you can either withdraw money as a loan, or withdraw the 50 percent match. If you take it out, you have to pay taxes on it, but you still come out ahead.

Suze Orman

#46. From an economic perspective, women are treated unfairly: they perform 66 percent of the world's work and produce 50 percent of the food but they only earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.

Zainab Salbi

#47. Here is my general approach to the energy companies. You have already charged the utilities a 50 percent credit penalty for the power they were buying from you. You're charging us a penalty. You're not going to get two bites of the apple here.

Gray Davis

#48. I don't think you can consistently be a winning trader if you're banking on being right more than 50 percent of the time. You have to figure out how to make money being right only 20 to 30 percent of the time.

Bill Lipschutz

#49. First of all, I only get 50 percent of it, because, I mean, the galleries get 50 and 60 percent. I mean, that's normal. I understand that. I don't quarrel with that.

Anthony Quinn

#50. Educated mothers are 50 percent more likely to immunize their children than mothers with no schooling.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

#51. The 2012 payout will be the lowest in our history: well below 50 percent.

Ennio Doris

#52. more than 90 percent of the female runners come home with a buckle, while 50 percent of the men come up with an excuse. Not even Ken Chlouber can explain the sky-high female finishing rate, but he can damn well exploit it: "All my pacers are women," Chlouber says. "They get the job done.

Christopher McDougall

#53. As of the mid-90s, over 50 percent of women have a bachelor's and master's degree, compared to about 35 percent and 30 percent, respectively, in 1920.

Peter Diamandis

#54. More than 65,000 horses were slaughtered in the United States in 2004, a 50 percent increase since 2002.

Elton Gallegly

#55. Fifty percent of the game is mental and the other 50 percent is being mental. I've got that part down, no problem.

Basil McRae

#56. We vote - if the public votes 50 percent, we vote 70 percent. So we have a bigger impact with our numbers, and the organization and the manpower we can bring to a race.

James P. Hoffa

#57. I'd rather make 50 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing.

Suze Orman

#58. The results have consistently suggested that introversion and extroversion, like other major personality traits such as agreeableness and conscientiousness, are about 40 to 50 percent heritable.

Susan Cain

#59. After a generation of misrule under Mr. Hussein, who built a huge military infrastructure while neglecting civilian investment, and a dozen years of United Nations sanctions, Iraq's unemployment rate tops 50 percent.

Alex Berenson

#60. Films are 50 percent visual and 50 percent sound. Sometimes sound even overplays the visual.

David Lynch

#61. Growing up in Kentucky, I used to hang out with four running buddies as a kid - 6, 10, and 11 years old. Two of them would later come out, and so 50 percent of my friends as a kid were gay.

Hal Sparks

#62. If we are going to win the next war, in my opinion, 50 percent of the time of training should be allotted to night training.

Chesty Puller

#63. My view is that the U.S. market will eventually join the emerging markets on the downside because if you take a bearish view about emerging economies, you cannot be too optimistic about the U.S. because for many U.S. corporations, 50 percent or more of their profits come from emerging economies.

Marc Faber

#64. Of all the peoples whom I have studied, from city dwellers to cliff dwellers, I always find that at least 50 percent would prefer to have at least one jungle between themselves and their mothers-in-law.

Margaret Mead

#65. If we have an economic crisis in the Western world it's because the government makes up 50 percent or more of the economy. This is a cancer that is taking away people's freedom.

Marc Faber

#66. William Glasser: "We learn 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach others.

Bill Capodagli

#67. Kids praised for effort complete 50 percent more hard math problems than kids praised for intelligence.

John Medina

#68. Our influence on the way our kids turn out is limited. We're competing, of course, with genetics, peers, culture, and the other adults (nannies, teachers, grandparents, coaches) in our children's lives. Parents can claim maybe 20 percent to 50 percent of the influence, researchers say.

Tracy Cutchlow

#69. We believe you will not have to pay more than the current rate structure proposes - which is, for 50 percent of the public, nothing; for another 25 percent, only a 10 percent increase; and for the remaining 25 percent, a 34 percent increase.

Gray Davis

#70. If you feel like you're at 50 percent with someone and that's as far as you'll get, you're wasting precious time. You should always be with someone who enriches your life and inspires you to be the best you can be.

Jenna Ushkowitz

#71. Oxytocin infusion increases generosity in unilateral monetary transfers by 80 percent [and] increases donations to charity by 50 percent.

Paul J. Zak

#72. I would rather stay positive and get 50 percent good results, than stay negative and get 100 percent bad results!

Joyce Meyer

#73. From 1997 to 2003, there was a decline of 50 percent in the proportion of children nine to twelve who spent time in such outside activities as hiking, walking, fishing, beach play, and gardening, according to a study by Sandra Hofferth at the University of Maryland.

Richard Louv

#74. You should never say to a superior, "I did my best," when you fuck up, because you are then declaring you are a fuckup. Your best is fucking up. If that's the case I'd hate to see you on a bad day when you were only putting in 50 percent. The answer is not "I did my best," it's "I'll do better.

Adam Carolla

#75. There's a reason [Donald]Trump and [Ted] Cruz are one and two and that they take nearly 50 percent of the Republican electorate away in these polls because there's real palpable anger out there and frustration and a feeling of betrayal.

Sean Hannity

#76. We lost one, we won two and we lost another one. We'll take 50 percent in four years in championships any day. Obviously, we want to win all of them, but that's just the nature of the game. Not proud of the way we played in this series.

LeBron James

#77. We have a lot of work to do, but we can get there if we work together. Women are more than 50 percent of the population and more than 50 percent of voters. We must demand that we all receive 100 percent of the opportunities.

Beyonce Knowles

#78. Motivation is highest when the probability of success is 50 percent: We don't get involved if the task is too easy or too hard.

Judith M Bardwick

#79. I love my DSL, but I love my WiFi more. And I probably get on the Internet 40 percent to 50 percent more because of the combination of those technologies.

Michael K. Powell

#80. As a collegiate, I think you spend 50 percent of your time recruiting. It is a distasteful process.

Marv Levy

#81. twin studies of anxiety have revealed that genetic factors account for roughly 30 percent to 50 percent of an individual's tendency to be generally anxious or to have a specific anxiety disorder.50

Joseph E. Ledoux

#82. There will be a debate on Firing Line between Buckley and Gore Vidal on the proposition: "This nation cannot survive as long as the income of 50 percent of the population is below the median." Mr. Vidal will take the affirmative.

M. Stanton Evans

#83. Adult obesity and overweight statistics have increased by about 50 percent since the Dietary Goals were announced. [by the federal government, in 1977] That bears repeating: a 50 percent increase in obesity/overweight correlated with a 10 percent decrease in fat content in the diet.

Larry McCleary

#84. I have no idea what goes on in another person's mind. As a legislator, I need to be good at persuading people, counting votes and getting to 50 percent plus one. I don't go back and say, 'Why did this person get to the right position?' It's only, 'Are you yes or are you no?'

Tammy Baldwin

#85. Everything I do, I try to think, 'Okay, what are the ramifications?' Like, with the clothes I wear, I prefer if it's grown organically, because cotton - which is what's used in most clothing - takes up 50 percent of all pesticide use.

Woody Harrelson

#86. You beat 50 percent of the people in America by working hard. You beat 40 percent by being a person of honesty and integrity and standing for something. The last 10 percent is a dogfight in the free enterprise system.

Arthur L. Williams Jr.

#87. Twelve for 23 ... It doesn't take a genius to see that's under 50 percent.

Dick Vitale

#88. Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight.

Lance Armstrong

#89. You replace it by 23 percent tax, a frank, transparent tax embedded in the cost at retail, and everybody gets to takes their whole check home. And the average income earner gets a 50 percent increase in take-home pay.

John Linder

#90. We have by far the most expensive health system in the world. We spend 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. Americans spend more on health care than housing or food.

Kathleen Sebelius

#91. It's absolutely essential that we have the same safeguards that straight couples do. But I want more than a 50 percent chance of success. I don't want to emulate that.

George Michael

#92. In the Miss America system talent is worth 50 percent of a contestant's points so my mom encouraged me to give it a try. And once I decided to do it, like anything else, I gave it 110 percent.

Gretchen Carlson

#93. Since Sept. 11, many of the wars of our generation are in the Muslim world. So as a woman, I have access to 50 percent of the population that my male colleagues don't.

Lynsey Addario

#94. Just as Jimmy Stewart and Tyrone Power get 50 percent of the profits, so do I.

Alan Ladd

#95. Fuel cells create a better automobile that's 50 percent more energy-efficient overall and sustainable from energy and safety perspectives.

Larry Burns

#96. I give away about 50 percent of my income, so my, you know, desire to give back to the country is pretty strong and I intend to give away a lot more. I've signed the giving pledge with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and I intend to give away the bulk of my money.

David Rubenstein

#97. Americans now know that housing prices can go down and they can go down by 10, 20, 30, and in some cases, 40 or 50 percent. We know they can go down. But five years ago, we thought they could only go up.

Bill Gross

#98. People also don't understand how young the Panthers were - basically teenagers. And that they were over 50 percent women.

Stanley Nelson Jr.

#99. The simple act of being interrupted is one of the biggest barriers to productivity ... What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.

Susan Cain

#100. My father lived to be 97 and played bridge every day up to the end, so I've got a 50 percent chance of living a long life like him.

Henry Louis Gates