Lisp is a tool meant to be molded to the work, not to have the work forced into a broader, less expressive Lisp mold. Tongs are tools that can be molded to fit the work, rather than forcing the work to fit the tongs (or awkwardly, and perhaps disastrously, not fitting the tongs).
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I just don’t get the analogy he’s trying to draw here
Lisp is a tool meant to be molded to the work, not to have the work forced into a broader, less expressive Lisp mold. Tongs are tools that can be molded to fit the work, rather than forcing the work to fit the tongs (or awkwardly, and perhaps disastrously, not fitting the tongs).
That's it, not too complex.