# "When all you have is a hammer..." source of saying? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126 "2004-04-26T17:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/1 "2004-04-26T17:38:53Z")
I am trying to track down the origin of the saying When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. After an hour of googling, I’ve got this: “When the only tool you have is a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Abraham Maslow “Give a child a hammer, and the world becomes a nail.” Jurgen Habermas Baruch’s Observation: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I have also seen it credited it to Mark Twain. Does anyone have an authoritative cite for the first appearance of this idea? ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/2 "2004-04-26T18:00:47Z")
I’ve always heard this as “When you’ve got a brand new hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Kind of a “boys and their toys” theme and echoing the “give a child a hammer” quote. Sorry, no cite. ---
**Author:** ![ReverseCowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@ReverseCowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReverseCowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/3 "2004-04-26T19:15:31Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > I am trying to track down the origin of the saying When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. After an hour of googling, I’ve got this: > > “When the only tool you have is a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Abraham Maslow > “Give a child a hammer, and the world becomes a nail.” Jurgen Habermas > Baruch’s Observation: > If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. > > I have also seen it credited it to Mark Twain. Does anyone have an authoritative cite for the first appearance of this idea? The quote is frequently attributed to Abraham Maslow, in _Psychology of Science_. I don’t have anything authoritative, though. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/4 "2004-04-27T12:46:00Z")
\ Appreciate the posts, but I already know all that… I am looking for an authoratative cite of the first appearance of this idea. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/5 "2004-08-19T16:04:17Z")
\ …one more try… ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/6 "2004-08-19T17:16:37Z")
“Give a man a hammer, then he wants a bell, and the next thing you know, he wants a song to sing, all over this land. Ingrateful SOB.” 😉 Sorry, all of my searches say Maslow. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/7 "2004-08-19T17:26:42Z")
Other than a single cite to Twain, which could easily be erroneous (witty comments are often attributed to Twain, Wilde, and GBS), do you have any reason to think it _isn’t_ by Maslow? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/8 "2004-08-19T17:32:28Z")
Well, the OP found 4 different author cites of it. I appreciate the reference to Psychology of Science. I haven’t been able to lay my hands on a copy to see exactly what he said, and if he seems to be saying it as an original quote, or quoting someone else. Aside from that, I’m just getting affirmations with no evidence. I do not have reason to think it isn’t by Maslow, but I don’t yet have sufficient reason to believe that it is. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/9 "2004-08-19T18:09:21Z")
Maslow’s dates are 1908-1970; Habermas was born in 1929. Maslow started publishing in the '40s, when Habermas was still a schoolboy. It seems quite plausible to me that Maslow did, in fact, originate the phrase/thought, and that Habermas used it, with or without providing the citation. The “Baruch’s observation” cite seems like an unattributed quote to me, and I think the Twain cite could easily just be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-source-of-saying/242126/10 "2004-08-19T21:30:33Z")
Searching many (though not all) of the sites in this [list of quotation sites](http://www.refdesk.com/factquot.html), the ones I examined attribute the quote (with minor variations in wording) to Maslow. If I were a betting man, that’s where I’d place my bet.