From Eugenia Cheng's Beyond Infinity, Chapter 10:

One of the strange features of mathematics is that it is there whether or not we see or understand it, just like when we're on a train the scenery is there whether or not we look out of the window or know what it is that is going past. Understanding the mathematics that is there can enable people to build better systems and solve more complicated problems. But it can also shed light on how we interact with the world around us, and on how our minds work. Illumination is a more subtle and less dramatic result than solving a specific problem or building a specific technology, but to me it is very fundamental and far-reaching in its quiet importance.

^z - 2017-08-07