To be always ready a man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.

Amiel uses the metaphor of a knot to distinguish between problems that yield to careful untying—patient reasoning, negotiation, gradual reform—and those that do not. “To be always ready” implies preparedness is not only knowledge and foresight but also the capacity for decisive, even disruptive action when complexity becomes paralyzing. The line echoes the Gordian-knot motif: some entanglements are so tight that the virtuous or effective response is to cut through them. Read ethically, it warns against perfectionism and endless scruple; read practically, it praises resolve and the willingness to choose a clean break when incremental solutions fail.