Proverbs 17:1

In July last year, I read Proverbs 17 after encountering a note in my edition of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice that compares some of Gratiano's lines (I.i.88-92) to Proverbs 17:28:  "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise."

I noticed a couple small features in the first verse:  "Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife."

The phrase "full of feasting" alliterates, and the repetition involved provides a slight sense of this abundance.

That the word "morsel" is technically a diminutive (from the Latin morsus, which means bite) emphasizes more strongly the contrast between the two meals' sizes.  The Latin Vulgate also contains a diminutive here (buccella, from bucca, which means mouth):  "melior est buccella sicca cum gaudio quam domus plena victimis cum iurgio."