Assuming people recognize their ideas, how should they look after them?

I don't believe you can look after an idea. That sounds like one of those Japanese electronic pets. It won't do much good. A good idea cannot be separated from the motivation it provokes. Probably, really good ideas are acted on because they're telling you to change your life, or do something about it.

I think we probably all have ideas that [are compelling], but we turn them away at the door. Because big ideas are scary. I think that is what inspiration is. Inspiration is something that blows you off the path that a moment ago seemed like your life. And most people are frightened of that, and they turn that idea away. They turn the inspiration away, because they'd rather have security. You have to be prepared to live in the wilderness. I'm making it sound too dramatic, but on the whole if an idea is really good, it will not fit in to the known framework.

You could say that's the paradox: if it's incommunicable, it means it's dumb. But if it persists, and you feel that you have to go somewhere with it, it will change you and end up changing the world. I believe that each of us creates the world. We create the world for ourselves. And we create if for others. I actually think that's what life is for. It's what makes life interesting, how we share this creative potential each of us has within the world. It can be very insular, just about fulfilling the potential of the work that follows the commitment to an idea, or it can be about being as open as possible to the unknown. Most people need a bit of both, don't they?

- Antony Gormley