From the Ground Up Quotes

“I’ve never thought of the third place just as a physical environment. For me, the third place has always been a feeling. An emotion. An aspiration that all people can come together and be uplifted as a result of a sense of belonging. This is the cornerstone of our business, yes, but “belonging” is also a basic human right, which should be afforded all members of a society.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“History shows that silence is unforgivable, for it gives bigotry license. And when meek words masquerade as moral courage, they are perceived as indifference and give the worst of human nature permission to flourish.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“I can be a bit romantic about history, but I’m also pragmatic about the present. America cannot, of course, have open borders. We need a clear, sustainable immigration policy, one that better manages the flow of people who do not pose a threat and can contribute to our economy and culture. Immigration laws can be sensible without extinguishing the idea that brought so many here and compels so many to stay.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Next, the memo summarized seven priorities: be recognized as the undisputed coffee authority; engage and inspire our partners with better training and new benefits; reignite customers’ emotional attachment to our brand; expand our stores around the world, but try to make each one feel like the heart of the local neighborhood; be a leader in ethical sourcing and environmental impact efforts; create new, relevant products to help grow revenue; operate a more efficient and profitable business model.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Kiss my ass, ya shiksa!”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“What I know in my soul is that the prejudice, inequality, and broken systems that do exist are wrong and dangerous. As Americans, they anger and shame so many of us. Personally, I can’t just sit on a couch and watch the news, or run a company, while society erupts, or walk into some form of retirement and be still. On the sidelines is not where most of us want to be. We must see beyond what’s in front of us. We must reimagine the promise of America. How? By using empathy to try to understand, raising our voices to condemn darkness, and casting our votes to choose the kind of leadership we want our grandchildren to grow up with. But we must also use our hard skills and resources to craft a better reality for ourselves, our neighbors and those with whom we share this land. We can protest but also plan. Search for the truth and share it broadly. Listen to others, and blend ideas. Criticize, but also create. It’s time to commit to a deeper level of shared accountability—to neighbor as well as to stranger, and to self. Americans will always have differences, because that is the nature of the republic we have created. But we owe our children a less divisive America, just as many of our parents fought for a less divided country than the one they inherited. It is time for all of us to elevate the best of ourselves. It is time to climb, and to reclaim the high ground. To do so we must make a choice, one that we have made before. It is a choice between renewal or decline. Our country has a history of renewal at moments when we’ve faced decline, but we also know that renewing our nation’s honor is not a forgone conclusion. The future is not going to bend toward America because we’re American. We’re going to have to bend it ourselves, nudge it, move it. At every turn, let us choose to replace meanness with kindness; pettiness with significance; hate with love; gridlock with compromise; complaints with creative solutions. As a nation, we must be tough but not at the expense of one another. So let us also champion and celebrate those with strength of character—the upstanders among us—because there are so many whose daily intentions and actions echo the heroism of the past, who strive for honesty in the present, and who are already reimagining the promise of America, and will do so for years to come. Above all, let us choose to believe in each other because now and always—we are in this together.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“So many of us are hungry to restore a collective sense of pride in our nation. And we have what it takes to do so. Yet many people have become numb, even accepting, to the shockingly cruel rhetoric we sometimes hear from our neighbors and leaders. But we should remember there are more Americans who speak out against intolerance than those who spew it. Just because anger and fear are louder than kindness and optimism does not mean that anger and fear must prevail, or define a new American identity. The negativity that streams through our media and social feeds is a false—or at least incomplete—narrative. Every time harsh Tweets dominate news cycles, we can remind ourselves of Mary Poole’s empathy in Montana, or the compassion of Rebecca Crowder in West Virginia, or Bryan Stevenson’s adamant calls for justice in our courts. Countless acts of dignity are unfolding offline, away from earshot, and they matter. We already have what it takes to rise above divisiveness and the vitriol of a hurtful few and steer the country toward an even better “us.” Not so we can be great again, but so we can become an even stronger, safer, more fair, prosperous, and inclusive version of ourselves. Those who champion common-sense problem solving, and there are legions of us, are eager to keep fixing, reinventing, improving. In these pages, I tried to amplify our existing potential to eclipse dysfunction by recounting Mark Pinsky’s collaborative spirit, for example, and Michael Crow’s innovative bent, and Brandon Dennison’s entrepreneurial gumption, and Dakota Keyes’ steadfast belief in her young students, and in herself. They are reminders that the misplaced priorities of President Trump and his administration do not represent the priorities of the majority of Americans. And while there are heroes who hold office, members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, have been complicit in the fracturing of trust that has plagued our political system for years now. In fact, I believe that the American people as a whole are better than our current political class.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“It is important to ground ourselves in the reason for the lunch counter sit-ins and freedom rides,” she said, referring to the civil rights movement. Freedom and equality are not just about soothing emotions and restoring dignity, “but about what it means to be a full citizen with all its benefits” and privileges. Discrimination, I understood her to be saying, hurts feelings and breaks hearts. But it’s about so much more: it blocks real chances to be our best selves and live our fullest lives in a country that promises just that.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“One way to describe the American Dream is as a promise—a promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Inherent to that pursuit, I believe, is having access to opportunities like education and good jobs, healthcare and ownership, support from family and friends, and generosity from strangers. Opportunity shows up as luck, but is also embedded into our social, governmental, and corporate constructs.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Your station in life does not define you. The promise of America is for all of us.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“The faults of history cannot be undone, but if we confront them we can begin to learn, change the present, and create a better future. Discussion is a good place to start, but talking can never be enough.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope,” Kennedy famously said in a speech delivered in South Africa in 1966 to condemn apartheid as well as the discrimination in his own country. “Crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Empathy and emotions do not equate to knowledge or true understanding about others’ circumstances.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“I am not ashamed of the wealth I have accumulated through Starbucks’ success. But I have never been interested in broadcasting my personal net worth. I’m very private in that regard. Money is not a measure by which I judge myself or want others to judge me. At the end of the day, we must each close our eyes and find peace with the decisions we have made. Among the things I have come to understand is how money can too easily amplify the best and worst of human nature. People with vast wealth are not immune to the heartbreaks of life, some of which are brought about by that wealth. There are also emotional aches that no amount of money can possibly ease. And while money can afford us our dreams, it can also imbue our failures with the destructive breadth of a tsunami.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Whether you are Republican or Democrat or independent or Libertarian, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “I think we all have a sense that there’s something not quite right [in the country], that we’re drifting toward mediocrity.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“When you do something for the first time, questions and problems are the two things you can count on.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Starbucks is in every state. Whether people like the company or not, we are an undeniable presence in communities, on the ground across America. I always tried to spend as much time as I could on that ground and in our stores, talking to partners and customers—and listening more than I spoke. Among the things I’ve learned is that the cliché is true: most people do share the same desires—to be valued, to be understood, to be loved, to have a chance to go after our dreams, however humble or audacious those dreams may be. Beyond that, I’ve come to believe that the majority of people have potential that is easy to overlook, but that when tapped is boundless. Most people I have met in America want to be in control of their own fate. They just need a chance.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Speaking out is a necessary beginning, but not the same as real change.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Ihave come to believe that people must not stand by in the face of human distress and broken systems. And if these two predicaments are intertwined—if human suffering is the result of others abdicating their responsibilities, or showing a lack of respect for another person—it becomes what can only be described as an injustice.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“I don’t say that all people have equal talent,” Kennedy told his crowd of supporters. “But what I do say is that everyone should have their chance to develop their talent equally.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“But just as valuable, he imprinted upon the company the power of candor and the value of truth telling. He taught me—a kid who grew up trying to keep peace in my own home—that disagreement was not a sign of disrespect, and that heated conflict was not something to avoid. Just the opposite. If Howard had an opinion, he voiced it, and he encouraged others to do so, too. He didn’t hesitate to argue with people, especially me. Through his leadership style, I saw that honest communication, even when it stings emotionally, is the root of productive problem solving.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Being entrepreneurial means you will fail. You just have to be willing to listen to people who tell you something is broken, and then fix it.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Our values were human values. Ethics, integrity, sharing, support, teamwork, caring, respect, and loyalty were all ideals I included in that first mission statement. I also wanted to instill a sense of ambitious camaraderie: “We will set aggressive goals and drive ourselves to achieve them,” the mission statement said. “It’s an adventure, and we’re in it together.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Just because others cannot see your vision doesn’t mean that vision isn’t achievable.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“Ideals that our nation was founded on, including equality and liberty for all, have yet to be fully realized. In some corners, their very existence is being threatened. The continuation of American democracy also is not a foregone conclusion. In fact, the American Dream that I have lived and still believe in—the notion that everyone should have an equal opportunity to rise from the ground up—is at a crossroads. More people need to have a fair chance at their dreams, however humble or ambitious those dreams may be, and now is the time to talk about what those chances might look like for everyone. Together, we have the potential to reimagine and deliver on the promise of our country, as I hope this book reveals.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“For me, the idea of a “third place” is not just something that exists between four walls. It is a mind-set. A way to exist in the world. That’s why I set out to build a profitable business that also expressed a core ethos: that people of all kinds can come together and uplift one another.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“To see my world not as it was, but as it could be. This became a lifetime habit. And in some ways, that’s the story I’ve tried to tell in this book: how we can all reimagine a better future by learning from the past with as much clarity and wisdom as we can muster, and by summoning the will and doing the work to bring that future into being. This has been my life’s journey.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America

“criticize by creation, not by finding fault.”
― Howard Schultz, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America