Not at all true! Particle physics is used in the medical industry extensively (radiotherapy treatments use particle accelerators, diagnostics use particle detectors (such as PET scans) etc) technologies developed in particle physics help research in lots of other areas like medicine/biology (such as allowing them to "see" small-scale structure in cells which helps develop medicines/ways of combating illness), etc.
Other forms of higher mathematics, like quantum mechanics, have real-world applications. When I first learned about quamtum mechanics I thought "this is just guys in a room somewhere doing maths for the sake of maths"... but then I realised that without quantum mechanics we wouldn't have lasers (which have applications in other experiments that help people too, not just for pointing at blackboards with!). Without relativity, GPS wouldn't work. So lots of things that first appear without a practical use, turn out to be used in most peoples everyday lives.
And to go back to the original point of the thread... that provides examples of how things that were not developed with a specific practical purpose in mind, can have amazingly useful practical purposes for society. I think part of the problem with science in general is that it's difficult to convey to the public how it relates to them and helps them. Lots of things - especially electronics - you don't physically see all the physics behind them.
