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"You might be tempted to think that Emerson advocates abandoning all admiration of others. He does not; he simply argues for hardheaded discrimination between what is good and true, and everything else. 'If you are noble, I will love you,' he writes, but 'if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions.' In other words, admire noble, good people, and give your attention only to what edifies and uplifts you." — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 20 June 2024

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When you edify someone, you’re helping them build character. This figurative "building" is key to understanding the history of edify. This word is an evolution of the Latin verb aedificare, originally meaning "to erect a house" and later (in Late Latin) "to instruct or improve spiritually." (The word edifice, which usually refers to a building and especially to a large or massive structure, comes from the same root.) Aedificare, in turn, is based on aedes, the Latin word for "temple." Edify shares the spiritual meaning of its Late Latin root, but it is also used in general contexts to refer to the act of instructing in a way that improves the mind or character overall.