His self-effacing manner comes through when he discusses his work habits."If anything, I think people say, 'He's such a drudge. He turns out a play a year. God, why doesn't he shut up for a while?"(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
"I kept thinking people would say, 'Gee, he hasn't written a play in a while. We really miss him.' One day, I was buying something in a store and someone came up to me and said, 'Excuse me, aren't you Terrence McNally?" I said, 'Yes.' I thought this person would say, 'I loved 'Bad Habits' or 'The Ritz'. But he said, 'I recognized your voice from Opera Quiz.' I had this instant flash of my obituary: 'Terrence McNally, Opera Quiz panelist, dead at 40.' I realized that no one was going to beg me to come back and that I had better start writing plays again." ,
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)