A hammer poised above a ceramic pot filled with brass nails, with loose nails beside it on a plum-gray surface.

Original artwork, not a still

Thief of Time ‧ 2001

Terry Pratchett

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

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker dryly says brilliant people get forgiven their excesses, but only after the damage is over. The hammer taken from their hands and the cleaned-up blood make the leeway grimly comic. Society tolerates genius once the danger has safely passed.

Context reviewed

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