My father had a series of blue-collar jobs and never made more than $20,000 a year. When I was seven, he got injured on a job. That was a very important point - because of the injury, he couldn't walk, and the company he was working for did not pay him. There was no compensation. So there was no money and no food.

The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.

The response to the Starbucks brand has been phenomenal in our international markets.

I think growth covers up mistakes.

We will never-and I mean never-turn our backs on our employees.

Success in the United States is not an entitlement in China. You have to go there and earn it, and earn it the right way.

We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.