I don't have a direct quote on hand. It is my understanding of the situation given the EWDs that I've read as well as his Dutch documentary.

The following addresses his reasoning on why Texas isn't as backwards as would be expected; https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/OtherDocs....

And I think the Dutch TV show goes into specifically why he had to leave europe in order to pursue his ideas.