If Vancouver did not succeed as Starbucks from '87 on, our entire international business, which is now thousands of stores and a significant amount of growth and profit, may not have existed.

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.

I think the most important thing that I think everyone in America must have is belief that wherever they live, whatever station they have in life, that the American dream is alive and well. I think the fracturing of trust and confidence is in the American dream.

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don't embrace the status quo.

My kids probably started drinking coffee in their late teens.

I was born on the other side of the tracks, in public housing in Brooklyn, New York. My dad never made more than $20,000 a year, and I grew up in a family that lost health insurance. So I was scarred at a young age with understanding what it was like to watch my parents lose access to the American dream.