“The mathematician may be compared to a designer of garments, who is utterly oblivious of the creatures whom his garments may fit. To be sure, his art originated in the necessity for clothing such creatures, but this was long ago; to this day a shape will occasionally appear which will fit into the garment as if the garment had been made for it. Then there is no end of surprise and delight.”

— George Dantzig

This quote is by his father Tobias Dantzig (1884-1956) Number: The Language of Science (1930) p. 240
Misattributed

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American mathematician 1914–2005

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