Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.
Always desire to learn something useful.
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.
Who seeks shall find.
Well done is better than well said.
The dog that trots about finds a bone.
It's always too early to quit.
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
They are imaginary characters. But perhaps not solely the products of my imagination, since there are some aspects of the characters that relate to my own experience of a wide variety of people.