I think it's an absurd saying. Obviously, "less" is not "more". However, there may be situations where "less" is "better" (even if measured in a biased way, acc

I think it's an absurd saying. Obviously, "less" is not "more". However, there may be situations where "less" is "better" (even if measured in a biased way, according to personal taste). For example, I've heard the phrase used in musical settings. Maybe telling the bassist, "play more simply! less is more!" Well, no, less is not more. More is more. But less is what you prefer to hear, and think works better in the context of the song. That said, by usually playing "less", if you were to occasionally play "more" for emphasis, then that brief flourish of "more" might sound even more "more" than it would if you played "more" for the entire song. So in that case, "mostly less plus occasionally more results in the more sounding even more then playing mostly more"...