What if we don't define code quality in terms of the aesthetics of that code?

Why is the perception of code quality so important prior to that code ever having been executed?

How can we test our code? What does it's testability tell us? What do it's tests tell us?

Is our test code good quality? Does it need to be? How can we know it is? Is it's quality measured by the same metrics as the code it is testing?

'Clean Code' by Uncle Bob is a good place to start when answering these questions.