Guys, what does it mean when he says "I respect her too much"?

[Anonymous]

We have been close friends the past few months with a guy from school (studying phd together). We don't have anything going on beyond platonic friendship because he stays at a distance on purpose - but we have been texting day and night every day, also spending time together at school the whole week. I wake up to his good morning messages almost every day and we both support each other very much, share our daily routines and important things during the day. Recently I heard someone asked him playfully if he is attracted to me because he was mentioning me in conversations all the time. He didn't say yes or no, but smiled and said "I care about her but I respect her too much and I am scared to hurt her" I heard about this very coincidentally from a very distant but trustworthy person, so I am pretty sure he didn't think I would hear about this. I have been always wondering why he wouldn't want to get closer - so my question is, what would he mean by "I respect her too much" and "I am scared to hurt her"?

[SnapTsch]

easy
he likes or maybe likes you a lot
but the binding that you two have is more precious to him and not worth jeopardizing by turning that into a relationship
Because, well, relationships can go sour and there is a 99% chance that he'd lose you if your relationship fails.
also he might think that you might not like him, which is why he's maintaining the distance

[Livinglogical]

Either helikes you but thinks you don't like him or he just doesn't fancy you and that was his polite way of saying so.

[Asker]

Thank you... I agree, one of them, though I can't imagine why he would try to be polite to a stranger about me. I wasn't there to hear him.