Only the educated are free.
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
Who seeks shall find.
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
Leap, and the net will appear.
After a storm comes a calm.
Always desire to learn something useful.
Know or listen to those who know.
It's always too early to quit.
Well done is better than well said.
Perhaps, all writers walk such a line. In general - as we all do in our dreams - I believe I put something of myself into all the characters in my novels, male as well as female.