Quotes from Howard Schultz

Believe in your dreams and dream big. And then after you've done that, dream bigger!

Your station in life does not define you. The promise of America is for all of us.

Years later, that image of my father -slumped on the family couch, his leg in a cast, unable to work or earn money, and ground down by the world- is still burned into my mind. Looking back now, I have a lot of respect for my dad. He never finished high school, but he was an honest man who worked hard.

Behind every cup of Starbucks is the world's highest-quality, ethically sourced coffee beans; baristas with health-care coverage and stock in the company; farmers who are treated fairly and humanely; a mission to treat all people with respect and dignity; and passionate coffee experts whose knowledge about coffee cannot be matched by any other coffee company.

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.

If you examine a butterfly according to the laws of aerodynamics, it shouldn't be able to fly. But the butterfly doesn't know that, so it flies.

Our strategy was to do more of what had worked in the past. But we were not pushing ourselves to do things better or differently. We were not innovating in lasting ways. We were venturing into unrelated businesses like entertainment. And we were pushing products that deviated too far from the core coffee experience.

Any company, when faced with adversity, would be tempted to go forward with an idea that promises to quickly erase pain. But in business as in life, people have to stay true to their guiding principles.

55 percent—about 1.4 million veterans among this generation—said they feel disconnected from civilian life in America.

Empathy and emotions do not equate to knowledge or true understanding about others' circumstances.

Old is beautiful, but not if it is neglected.—Aldo Lorenzi, That Shop in Via Montenapoleone

Finally, the stores' design, so critical to atmosphere, seemed to lack the warm, cozy feeling of a neighborhood gathering place. Some people called our interior spaces cookie-cutter or sterile: Clearly we have had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale . . . [but] one of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past. . . .

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

I've been really lucky. And I really, genuinely believe that if you tell people that they have what it takes to succeed, they'll prove you right.

How leaders embody the values they espouse sets a tone, an expectation, that guides their employees' behaviors.

When you do something for the first time, questions and problems are the two things you can count on.

We also sold books, creating several best sellers and helping to put unknown authors on the map.

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.

Part 2: Confidence

criticize by creation, not by finding fault.

At the very heart of being a merchant is a desire to tell a story by making sensory, emotional connections. Once, twice, or 16,000 times.

people became not just more cost conscious, but also more environmentally aware, health minded, and ethically driven.

Any business today that embraces the status quo as an operating principle is going to be on a death march.

Great opportunities can be and have been created during tough economic times.