This remark is attributed to Tony Hoare and dates from a 1970 conference on the production of large computer programs. It captures a view he held throughout his career: that reliability and clarity come from simplicity.

The remark suggests that large programs often carry unnecessary complexity. Somewhere within a sprawling system, Hoare implies, there is a leaner and more elegant version that does the essential work. The difficulty for the programmer is to find it, stripping away what is not needed rather than adding more.

The observation has become a widely quoted maxim in software engineering, echoing Hoare’s wider belief that the price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity. It is often cited when programs grow bloated over time, as a reminder that a smaller, clearer design may serve users better than an ever-expanding one.