If you ever wondered where this phrase originated, then this is for you. Here are the results of my research. It was true in the 17th Century and remains so today.
Take this for a rule, you may pick out such times and such companies, that you may make yourselves merrier,‥for 'tis the company and not the charge [expense] that makes the feast.
[1653 I. Walton Compleat Angler iii.]
Epicurus maintained that you should rather have regard to the company with whom you eat‥than to what you eat. ‥This has been crystallised into the terse English proverb, ‘The company makes the feast.’
[1911 F. W. Hackwood Good Cheer xxxii.]
It is the company which makes the occasion, not the surroundings.
[1981 ‘J. Sturrock’ Suicide most Foul vi.]
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