"Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up"

Genius, a quality often revered and romanticized, possesses a dual nature: it inspires creation and innovation but can also harbor chaos and destructiveness. Terry Pratchett’s sentence illuminates this paradox with both humor and a biting edge. The phrase suggests that society attributes a level of forgiveness and tolerance to extraordinary intellect and creativity. Brilliant minds, once they’ve acted, sometimes with a fervor or forcefulness that borders on the violent or reckless, are typically granted understanding, so long as the immediate consequences of their actions are managed or mitigated.

The "hammer" represents force, intensity, or even aggression, tools that genius might wield in pursuit of its vision, often at the expense of norms, order, or the safety and sensibilities of others. The process implied is not gentle: the hammer must be "pried" from genius’s hands, an act that involves resistance, suggesting that creative drive is rarely tamed without struggle. Only after this tool of raw, sometimes destructive, action is taken away and the "blood has been cleaned up", the metaphorical or literal damage repaired, does society resume its admiration. The phrase exposes the cost that sometimes comes with unconventional thinking and achievement: collateral damage that is often overlooked in the end, justified by the results.

Pratchett’s ironic tone challenges the reader to consider how readily genius is excused, how society glosses over the mess created in the name of progress or artistry. The cleaning of blood also serves as an allusion to historical figures whose work, while celebrated, involved turmoil or harm in its making. There’s an underlying warning about the danger of allowing talent to excuse excess, as well as an acknowledgment of the necessary messiness of true innovation. Ultimately, it is a commentary on the delicate balance society strikes between reverence for geniuses and the need to rein in their more destructive tendencies.