Group theory is the mathematical expression of symmetry, providing appropriate mathematical tools for the implementation of symmetry considerations in theoretical physics.
The introduction of the digit 0 or the group concept was general nonsense too, and mathematics was more or less stagnating for thousands of years because nobody was around to take such childish steps...-Alexander Grothendieck
R. Brown and T. Porter,Analogy, concepts and methodology, in mathematics(chapter_1) Link[1]