ἅπας ~ ἅπαντος (adj. masc.): all, every
μέσον ~ μέσου (adj. neut.): middle
κάλλιστον ~ καλλίστου (adj. neut.): most beautiful, best
πολέμιον ~ πολεμίου (adj. neut.): hostile, related to war
ἔσχατος ~ ἐσχάτου (adj. masc.): finally, last of all
Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.
Ἀκρὸν λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις.
Σωφροσύνα, δώρημα κάλλιστον θεῶν.
Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ πολὺ πολέμιον τῇ φύσει.
Πολλοὶ δὲ ἔσονται πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι.
And now, some commentary:
Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.
The whole hedgehog is prickly.
As Erasmus explains, this saying refers to a person who is "prickly" by analogy to the prickly hedgehog. In the same way that there is no un-prickly part of a hedgehog that allows you to safely pick it up, so too there are some people who are impossible to deal with no matter what you try to do: they are completely prickly. The adjective ἅπας is a compound: ἁ-πᾶς, "together-all." That initial alpha is not the alpha-privative, which is very common in Greek. Instead, this is the alpha-copulative, which is much less common, and which is weirdly the opposite of the alpha-privative. You can read more at Wikipedia about both the alpha-privative and alpha-copulative.
Ἀκρὸν λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις.
Grab the top, and you'll get the middle.
In other words: it's a good thing to plan big because, even if your plan falls short, you'll still end up with something! Some sources attribute this to the Delphic oracle; find out more at Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. This saying is a good way to remember the future stem of ἔχω: ἕξω (note the rough breathing). You can see the μέσο- root in "Mesopotamia" and "Mesoamerica."
Σωφροσύνα δώρημα κάλλιστον θεῶν.
Self-control, the fairest gift of the gods.
The words are from Euripides' Medea. This is what the Chorus says, alarmed by the events unfolding in the the drama that result of strong passions aroused by Aphrodite; they prefer the tranquility of σωφροσύνη (σωφροσύνα): self-control, soundness of mind, etc.
Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ πολὺ πολέμιον τῇ φύσει.
Everything in excess is inimical to nature.
This is from the "Aphorisms" which form part of the Hippocratic Corpus; you can find out more at Wikipedia: Hippocrates. When you remember that φύσει was pronounced with an aspirated p (p-husei), you can see the appeal of this saying with the p sound repeated four times! The word φύσις has an enormous range of meaning as you can see in the LSJ online. You can see the root of the adjective πολέμιον / noun πόλεμος in English "polemic."
Πολλοὶ δὲ ἔσονται πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι.
Many (who are) first will be last, and last will be first.
This paradoxical pronouncement by Jesus comes from the Gospel of Mark, and it can be found also in Luke, and in Matthew (twice in Matthew, in fact). You can see Greek ἔσχατος in English "eschatology."
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:
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