So St Thomas rightly explains, esti men homoiôs kai tote dunamei pôs, ou mên homoiôs kai prin mathein ê eurein (De anima, III, iv, 7). When you know a thing, though you are not thinking of it, your mind is not quite so much in potentiality over that thing as when you have it still to learn.

Of God and His Creatures: 2.74