In practice, C++ is a language family more than a single programming language. Every C++ project I've worked on essentially had its own idiolect of C++.
This is just a oft-repeated cliche and nothing more. Because C++ is a multi-paradigm language (with admittedly some less than ideal syntax/semantic choices) people overstate its complexity without much study/experience. Herd mentality than takes over and people start parroting and spreading the canard.
For the power and flexibility that C++ gives you, it is worth one's time to get familiar with and learn to use its complexity.
That is just silly; you don't need to read the entire specification to learn to use the language subsets productively as pointed out in my original comment here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45278216
