# Maslow Hammer Quote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237 "2000-07-20T13:56:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/1 "2000-07-20T13:56:07Z")
I’m trying to nail down the actual text of the famous quote by Abraham Maslow about hammers and nails. Unfortunately my Bartletts is at home. A short web search has come up with: “To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.” “To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.” "When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. " “If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” “When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.” Ahh, the internet. Anyone have the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/2 "2000-07-20T19:33:43Z")
It is: When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. -Maslow ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/3 "2000-07-20T19:42:31Z")
You rang? ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/4 "2000-07-20T20:05:11Z")
**tc** , that was my original thought, and is by far the most elegant of the above. Mind my asking your source? I know, I’m pushing it. ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/5 "2000-07-21T01:13:11Z")
Must be true. My dad always used to use a hammer to drive screws. He said the slot was only for removing them. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maslow-hammer-quote/26237/6 "2000-07-21T06:52:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stolichnaya \* > \*\ ***tc** , that was my original thought, and is by far the most elegant of the above. Mind my asking your source? I know, I’m pushing it. \*\* You won’t like it, but I’ll tell you. I couldn’t confirm which of the quotes was correct so I went to the Maslow Reading Room: [http://www.nidus.org/p3.html](http://www.nidus.org/p3.html) and read ‘Politics 3’ to see if I could catch a whiff of the way he wrote and therefore thought. Then I came back and re-read the possibilities. The one I picked was the only one he could have written. He writes the way I wish I could. Then I went to: [http://www.aphorismsgalore.com/author/Abraham\_Maslow.html](http://www.aphorismsgalore.com/author/Abraham_Maslow.html) and there it was. I realize that solution might not sound entirely believable to you, but you can do it yourself and obtain the same result.