often, what we imagine something to be
is much more beautiful than the thing itself

consider, for example, Homer's Helen of Troy

how could any flesh and blood person match
that "face that launched a thousand ships"?

consider also the music of the Ainur,
the divine beings whose harmonies created
J.R.R. Tolkien's mythological universe -

"Then Ilúvatar said to them:

'Of the theme that I have declared to you,
I will now that ye make in harmony together
a Great Music . . '

Then the voices of Ainur, like unto harps and lutes,
and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and
like unto countless choirs singing with words began
to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music;
and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies
woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into
the depths and into the heights, and the places of
the dwelling of Ilúvatar were filled to overflowing,
and the music and the echo of the music went out
into the Void, and it was not void.

Never since have the Ainur made any music
like to this music."
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion