“Asking a writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs”
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs” was said by playwright Christopher Hampton (born in 1946) in the Sunday Times Magazine (London) on October 16. 1977. The line has also been credited to playwright John Osbourne (1929-1994).
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19 October 1977, The Hour (Norwalk, CT), “Playwright on The Warpath” by Gregory Jensen (UPI), pg. 22, col. 6:
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs.”—Christopher Hampton, author of five plays.
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Time
Volume 110, Issues 10-18
1977
Pg. 189:
“Critics are a dissembling, dishonest, contemptible race of men,” says the group’s godfather — played by Osborne, naturally. “Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”
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5 July 1979, The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), “Stop ‘em dead quotes to remember” by Bob Greene (Field Newspaper Syndicate), pg. 2, col. 4:
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”—John Osbourne
25 March 1984, Seattle (WA) Times, “Misery: Writer needs to have a really special kind of true grit” by Stanley Kramer, pg. A28, col. 5:
Besides, asking a writer what he thinks of critics is like asking a lamp-post what it thinks about dogs. It’s always easier to give advice than to take it.
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The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations
By Robert Andrews
New York, NY: Columbia University Press
1993
Pg. 203:
Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs.
CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON (b. 1946). British playwright. Sunday Times Magazine (London, 16 Oct. 1977)
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14 May 1997, TimesDaily (Northwest Alabama), Ann Landers syndicated advice column, pg. 3C, col. 2:
Gem of the Day: Asking a writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs.