Every step of the way, I made a point to underpromise and overdeliver. In the long run, that's the only way to ensure security in any job.

I could've just walked away but I never could have forgiven myself to allow Starbucks to drift into mediocrity or not be relevant. I just couldn't be a bystander.

People in Washington need to put their feet in the shoes of working Americans.

Great companies are defined by their discipline and their understanding of who they are and who they are not.

It's one thing to dream, but when the moment is right, you've got to be willing to leave what's familiar and go out to find your own sound.

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.

Customers don't always know what they want. The decline in coffee-drinking was due to the fact that most of the coffee people bought was stale and they weren't enjoying it. Once they tasted ours and experienced what we call "the third place" ... a gathering place between home and work where they were treated with respect.. they found we were filling a need they didn't know they had.