Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.
“Faith makes all evil good to us, and all good better; unbelief makes all good evil, and all evil worse. Faith laughs at the shaking of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf.”
“There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues.”