'O I forbid you, maidens a', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For youngTam Lin is there. 'There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh, But they leave him a wad. Either their rings or green mantles, Or else their maidenhead.' Janet has kilted her green kirtle A little aboon her knee, And she has braided her yellow hair A little aboon her bree, And she's awa'to Carterhaugh As fast as she can hie.

-Ballads
'Tam Lin', opening stanzas.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being intheformof God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Philippians 2:5^11.

My common conversation I do acknowledge austere, my behaviour full of rigor, sometimes not without morosity; yet at mydevotion I loveto usethe civility of my knee, my hat, and hand, withall thoseoutward and sensiblemotions which may express or promote my invisible devotion.

-Browne, SirThomas
^5  Religio Medici (published1643), pt.1, section 3.

John Grubby, who was short and stout And troubled with religious doubt, Refused about the age of three To sit upon the curate's knee.

-Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)
  'The New Freethinker'.

Factsareventriloquist'sdummies. Sittingonawiseman's knee they may be made to utter words of wisdom; elsewhere they say nothing, or talk nonsense.

-Huxley, Aldous Leonard
  Time Must Have a Stop.

A woman is as young as her knee.

-Quant, Mary
Attributed.

O Domine Deus! speravi inTe; O care miJesu! nunc libera me; In dura catena, in misera poena, DesideroTe, Languendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me! O Lord my God, I hope in thee; My dear Lord Jesus, set me free; In chains, in pains On bended knee I adore thee, implore thee To set me free.

-Stuart, Mary known as Mary, Queen of Scots
  Poem composed just before her execution (translated by E Milner-White and G W Briggs,1941).

Rose a nurse of ninety years, Set his child upon her knee^ Like summer tempest came her tears^ 'Sweet my child, I live for thee.'

-Tennyson
  The Princess, pt.6, added song, stanza 4.

   I hope in time 'twill grow into a custom That noblemen shall come with cap and knee To purchase a night's lodging of their wives. 895

-Webster,John
  The Duchess of Malfi, act 3, sc.2.

Out of the debris of a statue thoroughly shattered a new art work is born: a naked foot unforgettably resting on a stone; a candid hand; a bent knee which contains all the speed of the foot race; a torso which has no face to prevent us from loving it.

-Crayencour
Quoted in the NewYorkTimes,10 May1992.