Empty ideas?

“….It’s the thought that counts”
“No. what’s the point of having the thought if you can’t execute it?”

I was sitting with a bunch of people when I heard two of my friends have this conversation. In my head, this brought up the question of the value of ideas and thoughts. I’ve often heard sayings like “an idea can change the world” or something on those lines. But are ideas of any worth if they are not made known? For an idea to “change the world” it needs to be put into practice, for no one would know about it if it were locked away in someone’s head. So which is more important- the thought or its manifestation?

An ideal argument would state that saying that without the thought, any sort of “starting point” would not exist. Then again, it can also be said that the purpose of this created “starting point” is nullified if the thought is kept within oneself with no visible output.

According to me, as great as it is to come up with original ideas and thoughts, acting upon ideas is somewhat necessary to make them more than just empty. I don’t mean that thoughts in themselves are always futile unless acted upon. Rather, the thought has more of an impact when it is executed, at least in the eyes of a viewer who is able to then concretely see its manifestation, in any form.