Battle, n. A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.

-Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett
  The Cynic's Word Book. Retitled  The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

   Round and round the circle Completing the charm So the knot be unknotted The cross be uncrossed The crooked be made straight And the curse be ended.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  The Family Reunion, pt.2, sc.3.

And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into a crowned knot of fire And the fire and the rose are one.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  Four Quartets,'Little Gidding', pt.5.

We're going faster and lower than anything out there. And we can bomb the knot off a tree.

-Jensen, Albert D
  On the capabilities of the B-1bomber10 years after its initial development. In the NewYork Times, 4  Jul.

Our style should be as a skein of silk, to be carried and found by the right thread, not ravelled and perplexed; then all is a knot, a heap.

-Jonson, Ben
Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (published 1640).

Come sleep,O sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release, The indifferent judge between the high and low.

-Shute, Nevil originally Nevil Shute Norway
Astrophel and Stella, sonnet 39.