“In many places where coffee is grown, deforestation is a major issue. With Starbucks’ position in the marketplace and the respect and relationships we have, we can – and have, in some cases – been able to educate and influence people.”

A great business has to have a conscience. You have to know who you are and who you are not.

At an early age, my mother gave me this feeling that anything is possible, and I believe that.

People want guidance, not rhetoric. They need to know what the plan of action is, and how it will be implemented. They want to be given responsibility to help solve the problem and authority to act on it.

Sometimes you have to create the thing you want to be part of.

But when you really believe-in yourself, in your dream-you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality. No great achievement happens by luck.

My parents really wanted me to get out of New York, be exposed to other people, other ways of life.

Europe has always represented a major strategic opportunity to achieve our goal of creating and building an enduring global brand.

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.

In life, you can blame a lot of people and you can wallow in self-pity or you can pick yourself up and say listen, I have to be responsible for myself.

The hardest thing about being a leader is demonstrating or showing vulnerability. And that has a lot to do with trust.

When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.

This may sound a bit naive, but I got here by believing in big dreams.

Always challenge the old ways.

We are witnessing a seismic change in consumer behavior. That change is being brought about by technology and the access people have to information.

I never wanted to be on any billionaires list. I never define myself by net worth. I always try to define myself by my values.

Whatever you do, don’t play it safe. Don’t do things the way they’ve always been done. Don’t try to fit the system. If you do what’s expected of you, you’ll never accomplish more than others expect.

A twenty three year old hits on me in a coffee shop in venice, and I ask him if father is single.

I think I’ll always remember your birthday and the way you took your coffee because they’ll forever be pieces of you I cannot burn.

I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it. That’s why I love coffee shops and public places – I mean, they’re all out there.

I’m the coffee shop kinda person; the kind who loved to live unless lives in doses of caffeine.

I woke up this morning and for once, I had no desire to drink my morning coffee. Is that how it felt for you to wake up and never return?

Things that really matter are the things that gold can’t buy, so let’s have another cup o’ coffee and let’s have another piece o’ pie.

Peace is when I am cuddled up in a snug wool blanket with a hot coffee in hand without worry in mind, so I can dream about red sunsets and the scent of warm, sun kissed bodies.

I can’t imagine a day without coffee. I can’t imagine!