Truth and Beauty

One of my favorite sonnets by William Shakespeare is one that pokes fun at how much (in our rush to name or describe something beautiful) we go for the easy, false and flattering comparison. Like the best of Shakespeare's writing, there is a wonderful punchline that is truer than any false comparison, especially when you encounter someone as beautiful as this.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go:
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
     As any she belied with false compare.