I read this anecdote years ago, and it stayed with me.

In 1945 there was a young man, an aspiring writer, released from the army when WW2 ended. He deeply admired William Faulkner, so he decided to hitchhike all the way down to Faulkner’s home in Oxford, Mississippi to get some advice. All he had was his uniform and a small satchel.

When he got there, Faulkner was sitting on his porch, drinking lemonade. Uninvited, the young man entered the yard and boldly approached him. Luckily, Faulkner had a soft spot for vets, and invited him to sit.

Overwhelmed, all his carefully planned questions about writing fled the young man’s mind. In a panic, he instead blurted out: “How can I become wise?”

The great writer sat and thought about this question for almost 20 minutes, without saying a word. Finally he looked at the young man and said “Travel as much as you can. And read as much as you can.”

Seems like pretty sage council, to me.