Not quite what the OP claims but see for example the Story of Mel:

  I had been hired to write a FORTRAN compiler
  for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders.
  Mel didn't approve of compilers.

  ``If a program can't rewrite its own code'',
  he asked, ``what good is it?''

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3008/pg3008-images.html...

Though to be fair The Story of Mel supports rather than refute the argument against compilers.