“I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.”
“I wanted to be curious and smart and unappeasable until I got a sentence to mean exactly what I ordered it to mean.”
“Neel takes a sharp breath and I know exactly what it means. It means: I have waited my whole life to walk through a secret passage built into a bookshelf.”
“They call it love," said Vernon. "I don't know what they mean by it. What do you mean [by love]?""I don't exactly know," said Temple slowly. "I suppose it's wanting to be with a person, and thinking about nothing else. And thinking they're the most beautiful and all that. And going over everything that they've ever said to you, and wanting— Well, I suppose if it's really love you want to marry them.”
“Lonely? I don't know. They tell me this is cold. I don't know what cold is, because I don't freeze. So I don't know what lonely means either. Bears are made to be solitary.”
“I don't know" means "NO!""I don't know" means "I'm too cowardly to tell you the truth because I can't deal with confrontation.""I don't know" means please do the dirty work for me because I don't want to hurt your feelings even more then I already have.”