Principally known in North America.

‘There is frequently a lack of understanding of what power is—I've got power, therefore I'm right,’ he said. ‘When you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’
[1981 New York Times 11 Nov. D13]

That kind of crude misapplication of PCs and PC software—the computer world's equivalent of the old saw that ‘when all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail’—means death for productivity.
[1989 PC Magazine 14 Mar. 78]

It's a waste to use $480 worth of Office suite for such simple work. But it's not a surprise either. To paraphrase what others have said: When Microsoft Office is your only hammer, pretty much everything begins to look like a nail. Or a thumb.
[2002 Washington Post 7 Apr. H7]

Related to: necessity; ways and means

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Copyright © 1982, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.