On one hand

I heard writing advice once, in the context of writing fiction novels, along the lines of “Don’t bother writing anything until you’re at least in your 30s”.

On Charles Darwin (Wikipedia):

In 1873 Darwin’s son George wrote an essay which boldly dismissed prayer, divine morals and “future rewards & punishments”. Darwin wrote “I would urge you not to publish it for some months, at the soonest, & then consider whether you think it new & important enough to counterbalance the evils; remembering the cart-loads which have been published on this subject. – The evils on giving pain to others, & injuring your own power & usefulness … It is an old doctrine of mine that it is of foremost importance for a young author to publish … only what is very good & new … remember that an enemy might ask who is this man … that he should give to the world his opinions on the deepest subjects? … but my advice is to pause, pause, pause.”

On the other hand

  1. Several people whom I trust and respect say that they wish they had, in their youth, stood up for justice more in their day-to-day life and work.
  2. There are many examples of masterpieces written at a young age, and even when the author also died at a young age. Had such authors waited to write, these masterpieces would’ve been lost to the world.

So maybe the best advice is more along the lines of “Know what you’re doing”. This captures both of these perspectives: if you are young but know what you’re doing, then by all means go forth and prosper, but it’s also smart to recognise that sometimes it’s important to develop skills and experience first.