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{{quote|''"Trust me on this: you don't wanna know. Audrey? Don't tell him. You shouldn't've told ''me,'' but you did, and now I'm telling you, ''you don't wanna know!''"''|'''Joshua Sweet''' on Mole's past in ''[[Atlantis: theThe Lost Empire]]''}}
 
Some secret about Character A is mentioned, either by the character himself, or by somebody else. When queried, someone replies "You ''don't'' want to know. [[Take Our Word for It|Just trust me on this]]." Or words to that effect. Whether ''we'' actually find out what it is varies - if we don't, it can turn into a [[Noodle Incident]], and might be set up for one or more [[The Un-Reveal|un-reveals]]. The characters who ''do'' know will usually try to avoid talking about it. More often than not, this phrase can just end up as [[Schmuck Bait]].
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== Fanfiction ==
* ''[[The Man Withqith No Name (Fanficfanfic)|The Man With No Name]]'' has this:
{{quote| '''Mal''': Kaylee, find something for the doc to do. He don't need to be fussin' the whole time we're gone.<br />
'''Kaylee''': He and I can–<br />
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== Film ==
* Used for an extended gag in ''[[Atlantis: theThe Lost Empire]]'', when Milo asks Audrey about the backstory of Gaetan 'Mole' Moliere, after having heard the backgrounds of the rest of the cast. She's just opened her mouth when Dr. Sweet delivers the page quote. Seeing as Moliere is a short, creepy French dude obsessed with soil and rock, not to mention an intense aversion to bathtime<ref>which Sweet conveniently often uses on Mole during their first meeting when Mole went ballistic on Milo for unknowingly ruining his soil collection by lying on the bunk</ref>, he may be right.
** In the sequel, Milo say that he thinks Moliere was raised by naked mole rats. Of course, given that it went [[Direct to Video]]...
*** In an issue of Disney Adventures, it was stated that he spent most of his childhood exploring in the sewers of Paris.
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'''Egg Shen''': ''"Lo-Pan's spy. What it sees, Lo-Pan knows!"''<br />
'''Jack Burton''': ''"I said, 'don't tell me!'"'' }}
* Used as a joke in ''[[UHF (Film)|UHF]]:''
{{quote| '''Stanley''': Hey, George, is something wrong?<br />
'''George''': Stanley, you don't want to know.<br />
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* ''The Outcast of [[Redwall]]'' features a hare nicknamed Jodd. His [[Overly Long Name|full name]] results in this trope, and in the end we only hear ''part'' of it. {{spoiler|According to the official website's "Ask Brian" feature, it's ""Wilthurio Longbarrow Sackfirth Toxophola Fedlric Fritillary Wilfrand Hurdleframe Longarrow Leawelt Pugnacio Cinnabar Hillwether Jodrellio".}}
* ''The Golden Globe'' by [[John Varley]] averts [[Forbidden Fruit]] in this regard: to show that you don't want to know how Charonians have sex, you're given a description of their coming-of-age ceremony. For context, Charonians [[Good Thing You Can Heal|regenerate quickly]] and worship pain, and the ceremony itself is either [[Narm]] or [[Nausea Fuel]].
* Used in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thud|Thud!]]'' when Vimes asks about the worst of dwarven signs, the Summoning Dark, and is informs he does not want to know. When he asks again, he's told that no, he really doesn't. He starts to ask again before deciding that in fact that's correct, it's mystical stuff that he doesn't believe in, and drops it.
** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'' the ancient messenger golem Anghammarad recounts his motto:
{{quote| '''Anghammarad''': "Neither Deluge Nor Ice Storm Nor The Black Silence Of The Netherhells Shall Stay These Messengers About Their Sacred Business. Do Not Ask Us About Sabre-Tooth Tigers, Tar Pits, Big Green Things With Teeth Or The Goddess Czol." [...]<br />
'''Moist''': "The goddess Czol?"<br />
'''Anghammarad''': "Do Not Ask." }}
*** Similarly, the modern post office declares that neither sleet nor snow nor gloom of night shall stay these messengers about their business, with it's own "don't arsk us about" list. Mrs. Cake appears twice.
** The [[Lemony Narrator]] does this to the ''reader'' in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'', when Famine talks about his love of salad cream sandwiches. A [[Footnote Fever|footnote]] advises readers from societies where the traditional condiment for salad is mayonnaise not to even ask.
* Subverted and inverted early on in [[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy]], when Arthur takes the precaution of asking Ford, "if I were to ask you where the hell we were, would I regret it?" Ford cuts to the chase and tells him where they are. Arthur was probably happier when he didn't know.
* Used in a decidedly non-comedic fashion in ''[[Memory, SorrowandSorrow, and Thorn]]'', when [[Shell Shocked Senior]] Camaris refuses to tell the protagonists about his mysterious past that led to a [[Heroic BSOD]], on the grounds that it's too shameful. He does confess it twice, once to a priest and once to [[The Wise Prince|Prince Josua]], and both emerge from the experience wishing they hadn't been told. At the end, it's revealed that he's {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|Josua's father]]}}, and lived his life afterwards in misery over his weakness and the subsequent [[Death Byby Childbirth]] of the woman in question.
* During a ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' short story, a skeleton grabs the Tenth Doctor by the ankle as it claws its way out of the earth. The Doctor, not taking his eyes off Rose, asks if he should look. She shakes her head.
* In the ''[[GauntsGaunt's Ghosts (Literature)|Gaunts Ghosts]]'' novel ''His Last Command'', Vortenhus is told that he does not want to know what a glyf - a Chaos tripwire-like ''thing'', the sight of which can drive a man insane - is.
* In The ''[[Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Death Masks'', Dresden finds himself having a conversation with his friend Michael's teenage daughter Molly, after escaping a situation that left him with handcuffs danging from one wrist. During their talk, Molly produces an entire set of handcuff keyes and finds one that matches the cuffs he's wearing. When Harry asks how she got the keys, she tells him to ask himself if he really wants to know the answer to that question. Harry decides he doesn't.
** Repeated with the medical pinwheel thing. Apparently they have recreational uses. Molly used to hang out with a ''weird'' crowd. Harry decides to not pursue that line of reasoning.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In an episode of ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]] the Third'', a French torturer tells the soldier guarding Blackadder and Baldrick that he should leave, since what she is going to do will be so horrifying. He states his belief that he can stomach it, to the hag's increasingly frantic protests, until he asks for a description. She whispers to him, and of course he runs off about to vomit.
** Also in ''Blackadder the Third'', when Prince George describes what the Naughty Hellfire Club does to people who don't pay their dues:
{{quote| '''Prince George:''' They pull your breeches down and push a large radish right up your--<br />
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* On the Raquel Welch episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Marvin Suggs reveals to Kermit that he has to replace his living musical instruments, the Muppaphones, when they go flat (like little pancakes). What happens to them then? Well...
** At one point, he actually ''was'' the replacement...turns out that singing the Witch Doctor song when you've been told never to tell anyone [[Fantastic Aesop|is a bad idea]].
* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'': Lister opens a secure door and doesn't want Kryten to see how: "Trust me, you don't want to know!". Kryten doesn't look, but of course, being a robot, he correctly guesses the logical answer: Lister [[Borrowed Biometric Bypass|used a severed hand]] from one of the dead crew on the palm print reader.
{{quote| '''Kryten''': Logically, sir, there is only one way you could possibly have opened that door. I feel quite nauseous. Where is it?<br />
'''Lister''': Where's what?<br />
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*** Rimmer does, of course, and the answer turns out to be embarrassing.
** In ''Backwards'', before they leave, Lister tells Rimmer that Cat has gone off into the bushes, then he realizes what this entails, and says, "We've got to stop him!" Cat comes back, hair sticking straight up, walking stiffly, horrified expression on his face, and simply says "Don't ask." (For those who don't recall the episode, they were on an alternate Earth where everything happened ''in reverse''...)
* Used in the first-season ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode "The Big Goodbye", where the fate the [[Big Creepy -Crawlies|insectoid]] Jarada [[Disproportionate Retribution|visit upon]] people who [[Berserk Button|pronounce their ceremonial greeting wrong]] is so horrible that the crew won't even let Data hint at it.
* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', [[The Comically Serious|Worf]] is asked at a party what [[Proud Warrior Race|Klingons]] dream about.
{{quote| '''Worf''' (in [[Sincerity Mode]]): "Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. No, it is better that you do not know. Excuse me." ''*shambles away*''}}
** In "Sacrifice of Angels", O'Brien and Bashir have been quoting [[Kill'Em All|"The Charge of the Light Brigade"]] in the runup to a battle where they're seriously outnumbered. Garak, eventually, asks how it ends. O'Brien tells him he doesn't want to know...which pretty much answers the question.
* Speaking of [[Big Creepy -Crawlies|insectoids]], on an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', Captain Archer is in VERY tense negotiations with the Xindi; his linguist Lt. Sato performs simultaneous translation -- except at one point, where the insectoid goes on a long chittering rant, and Sato simply says "You don't want to know."
** This is the second time she uses the line. In the pilot episode, a Klingon says ''something'' to Captain Archer, who takes it as a thank you. When Sato comments that she doesn't think they have a word for thank you, and Archer asks her what the Klingon ''did'' say, she responds with the line verbatim.
* Used for comic effect in ''[[Black Books]]''. Manny says that something bad happens to him at 88 degrees, and Bernard wants to know what, but Manny keeps repeating, "You don't want to know." Bernard at first tells Manny to stop saying that, because he wants to know even more if he's told he doesn't. Then he switches tactics, saying that Manny doesn't know WHY Bernard wants to know. To which Manny replies, "Oh, why's that?" And Bernard has made his point.
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* In one episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', after Leonard's mother and got drunk with Penny and kissed Sheldon, she apologises to Sheldon "about her behaviour" while Leonard is present. Leonard enquires about details, but his mother, Penny and Sheldon all answer that he doesn't want to know.
* ''[[Northern Exposure]]'' -- In "The Russian Flu," Dr. Fleischman asks Marilyn what's in a foul-smelling (but effective) Native American flu remedy. Her reply: "You don't wanna know."
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' season three demonstrates how not to do this: a character whose power is treated as a "you don't wanna know" situation turns out to be [[Stock Super Powers|something pretty basic]]: your typical [[Make Me Wanna Shout|sonic scream]] thing, and not even (that we saw) to Black Bolt-esque mega-destructive levels.
** Said power was originally intended to be [[Elemental Powers|terrakinesis]], on par with the [[Big Bad]] of volume five, but was cut due to budget restraints at the time.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "Bad Wolf", this is Jack Harkness's response when his captors demand to know [[Hammerspace|how he managed to pull a concealed weapon on them]] [[Ass Shove|despite being stripped naked]].
* On the U.S. version of ''[[The Office]]'', Dwight issues Jim a demerit for tardiness, then explains his made-up, incredibly convoluted warning system for policing the office that, as Jim points out, logically ends with Dwight submitting a disciplinary review to his immediate superior (Jim himself, the Assistant Regional Manager). Jim responds by demanding the review be on his desk by the end of the day, or Dwight will be issued a "full dissadulation." What is that? "You don't want to know."
* ''[[Get Smart (TV)|Get Smart]]'' used a variation of this in [[Catch Phrase]] fashion:
{{quote| '''Maxwell Smart:''' Don't tell me ''[rest of sentence]''<br />
'''Other character:''' ''[repeats the rest of the sentence back to him]''<br />
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* In one of the ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'' compilation books, Scott Adams suggests that when calling in sick to work, the best thing to say is, "You don't want to know the details.".
* [[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin]]'s mom after he runs inside naked and screaming at a hailstorm; "I'll bet there's an explanation for this, and I'll bet I don't want to hear it."
* In a ''[[Garfield]]'' strip, Garfield looks at the box of the cat food he's eating, and sees that it reads: "Ingredients: You're better off not knowing". He keeps on eating, thinking: "What you don't know can't hurt you, right?"
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== Theater ==
* About 80% of ''[[Oedipus the King (Theatre)|Oedipus the King]]'' is this trope.
 
 
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] III: The Frozen Throne,'' Illidan uses this line on Malfurion.
{{quote| '''Malfurion''': ''They [Illidan's naga] had best return with good news. The very sight of them makes my stomach turn. Where did you ever find such loathsome creatures?''<br />
'''Illidan''': ''Believe me, brother: You don't want to know.'' }}
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' take after Raine disappears into the Iselia shrine:
{{quote| ''Raine'': *[[Evil Laugh]]*<br />
''Lloyd'': What was that about?<br />
''Genis'': You're better off not knowing... }}
* Players of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (Videovideo Gamegame)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' are treated to this little exchange on Dantooine:
{{quote| '''C8-42:''' "I'm afraid my owner became a bit too attached to me. Obsessed even. She...she tried to treat me as her dead husband. It was not healthy for her."<br />
'''Player:''' "Er... ALL the time?"<br />
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== Web Animation ==
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue (Machinima)|Red vs. Blue]]'' Church encounters multiple versions of himself due to time travel, including one who is an odd yellow color. When asked how he got like that, he simply replies, "Dude, [[Don't Ask]]."
** In season five, it turns out {{spoiler|yellow Church is actually the personification of Sister in Caboose's head}}.
*** Well, [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At Thethe Time]].
* If you want to know how to animate the titular character from ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]'', [[Noodle Implements|it involves a pair of underpants with ping-pong sensor nodes on it]]. Matt quotes this word for word after showing the viewer this.
 
 
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"Why are you dressed as a ninja?"<br />
"I don't want to tell you." }}
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'':
{{quote| "I want to know, but I'm afraid to ask..."<br />
"That's a good sign that you don't really want to know." }}
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'''Faye''': I... I don't want to know, do I.<br />
'''Dora''': Probably not. }}
* ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]'' uses a [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00036.htm variation on this].
* ''[[Nodwick]]'' [http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2006-10-18 theology] has this effect:
{{quote| '''Artax''': The ''more'' i learn about gods, the ''less'' i want to know.}}
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{{quote| '''Eastwood:''' Why do you have...?<br />
'''Syrus:''' Only finish that question if you ''really'' wanna know the ''answer''. (''East mimes zipping his lips shut.'') }}
* ''[[The Whiteboard (Webcomic)|The Whiteboard]]'': A common reaction by the regulars when Sandy or Pirta<ref>moreso the latter, not having been around the gang for as long as the former</ref> asks about any particular weirdness happening.
{{quote| '''Jake:''' [http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb737.html "If past experience is any indication, we'll be better off not knowing."]}}
* Used in ''[[Yosh!]]'' in response to [http://yosh.katbox.net/archive/tmi/ an accidental] [[Double Entendre]].
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"We're all in a cage match fighting to the death."<br />
"Yeah, see?" }}
* In the ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'' episode "Ken 10" Ken rejects adding an alien called 'Toepick' to the Omnitrix, saying "He even grosses me out!". The pop-up edition plays this up by having the pop-up say "You don't want to know".
* In ''[[Invader Zim]]'s'' [[Crapsack World]], people inexplicably hand out meat on Valentine's Day. When Dib asks how this tradition got started, Ms. Bitters (who never had a problem telling the children disturbing truths ''before'') simply replies that he doesn't want to know.
* In ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', the episode 'Knock, Knock' has Egon look into the room that holds the door to Doomsday. When asks what he sees, he replies 'you don't want to know' in his usual calm, dull tone of voice.
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'''Mr. Barkin:''' No beach. Just jellyfish... ''[shudders]'' Don't ask. }}
* In the ''[[Strawberry Shortcake]] Berryfest Princess Movie'', Blueberry Muffin walks in on Strawberry Shortcake [[It Makes Sense in Context|doing a bunnyhop and sorting mixed nuts]] with Plum Pudding at Orange Blossom's general store and comments, "Do I wanna know?" A little while later, after reading a map has been added to Strawberry's tasks, Orange returns, also commenting, "Do I wanna know?" "That's what I said," Blueberry tells her.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', it turns out that the [[Kaiju|three story tall]] [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears|celestial bear]] that attacked Ponyville was an Ursa Minor--a baby. When asked what an Ursa Major is like, Twilight gives this response.
** Also Rainbow Dash says it after Twilight wonders what Dash meant by "At least I haven't been replaced by turnips"
* In ''The Simpsons'' episode "I Love Lisa," Ralph Wiggum has tickets to Krusty's anniversary show, and he invites Lisa. Bart really wants to go, and he suggests disguising himself as Lisa.
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** A Simpsons TV Episode guide also used this phrase on the subject of how Kang and Kodos could tell each other's genders. }}
** Another episode had Bart rubbing his ear industriously and acting sick so that when Marge took his temperature (through his ear) it would come out to 103 F and he could stay home. She says the only way to be sure was to use the rectal thermometer. It still came out to 103. When Lisa asked, Bart says she doesn't want to know.
** In [[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe]] episode, "The Origin of The Sorceress": Teela-na, the future Sorceress, gets this line from a young town who had been watching the villain of the day and a alien race argue over things.
 
 
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