admire somebody from afar
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadmire somebody from afaradmire somebody from afarliterary to be attracted to someone, without letting them know → admireExamples from the Corpusadmire somebody from afar• Many girls fell in love with him but could only admire him from afar.• The long grass was so wet that I decided to admire the castle from afar.• Mary was still a good looking woman and Sid had admired her from afar for a long time.