the direct use of force is so poor a solution . . .

... the direct use of force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources and diverse ends that it is rarely employed save by small children and great nations.

--- David M. Friedman, Law’s Order, Princeton University Press (2000), Epilogue, p. 309

Quote in context:

The world has limited space and resources and is occupied by people with differing beliefs and objectives. From those simple facts comes the potential for conflict. I want to hunt a deer across the field where you are trying to grow wheat. You want to go swimming in the stream where I am trying to catch fish.

The simple and obvious solution is the direct use of physical force. You plant a thorn hedge around your wheat field to persuade me to hunt deer somewhere else. I hit you over the head with a tree branch to convince you to swim somewhere else.

This is not a very satisfactory solution to the problem; it is expensive in time, effort, scratches and bruises, and frequently fails of its objective. Indeed, the direct use of force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources and diverse ends that it is rarely employed save by small children and great nations.

Our society has a very large industry in the business of transferring money from one future to another: the insurance industry

--- David M. Friedman, Law’s Order, Princeton University Press (2000), p. 99, Chapter 9: As Much as Your Life is Worth, discussing optimal deterrence vs optimal insurance

Quote in a little context:

Our society has a very large industry in the business of transferring money from one future to another: the insurance industry. When you buy fire insurance you are giving up money in a future in which your house does not burn down in order to collect money in a future in which it does, transferring wealth from one future to another.

This is a most wonderful book: a marvelous introduction to the field of law & economics.