I gave a couple of C++ books to a recent CS graduate. She assured me that C++ would be easy to pick up because it has a much smaller standard library than Java. I smiled but didn't say any anything.

Yes, C is simpler than C++. But that simplicity comes with a cost, mainly that the programmer has to keep track of more details. And the C standard library is smaller than the C++ standard library (and that would be true even if the C++ standard library didn't include the C standard library).

I should have added "and also high level". I did that now.