high ranking german generals without the knights cross

[Oberst Klink]

whenever you see pictures of german generals, predominately they have the knights cross of better around their necks. Were there any high ranking generals that were never awarded the knights cross and would they have been thought less of by their more decorated general counterparts?

[Gareth Collins]

All Heeren Officers that were Active during WWII down to Generaloberst recieved the Ritterkreuz. Several pre-war high fliers (Blomberg, Beck, Fritsch, Adam etc) did not have the opportunity.
Luftwaffe down to GenOb, only Günther Rüdel did not recieve the Ritterkreuz as his job was not front line. He did recieve the Ritterkreuz d. KVK mit Schwertern though. In the Kriegsmarine, several Generaladmirak's did not recieve it.
There is a long list of Generals and Admirals down to GenMaj without the prestige medal.
Jodl of course didnt recieve his until the last day of the war.

[Oberst Klink]

was it presented to general ranks by default, or did they distinguish themselves in the field, would they have been jealous of a then 1st Leutnant Hans Joachim receiving the diamonds?

[Gareth Collins]

They would have had to distinuish themselves in the field. By their leadership and bravery in battle, or by their decisive planning in the General Staff, or by a little bit of the latter and a lot of brown-nosing (Keitel). It was not default to recieve the Ritterkreuz if you were GenOb, but by the very rank you would have had to be something special as a commander, and doing that something special often required bravery in battle and Decisive planning.