孔子曰：“生而知之者，上也；学而知之者，次也；困而学之，又其次也。困而不学，民斯为下矣！”

亚里斯多德《伦理学》，BOOK1-4，引Hesiod：

He is best of all who of himself conceived all things;

good again is he too who can adopt a good suggestion;

but who so neither of himself conceive nor hearing from another;

 laid it to heart he is a useless man.

生而知之，或许是指第一种情况。孔子经常讨论学和思的关系，生而知之也可能指“思”。