[mikestew]

It brings to mind a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that is often abused in a similar manner: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." It is interesting to observe the results of someone treating "foolish" as a filler word that can be glossed over. For our purposes here, substitute "foolish" with "premature". Leave that word out, and more context is needed. But that's why Knuth didn't leave that word out. With one simple adjective, the statement stands as is.