[W]ell aware of the old vying factions at court (factions that he had even done all that he could to foment), … [Richard] supposed it would further his plans a great deal if he secretly served his own interests under a pretext of partisanship.

If I as a private citizen [priuato] had been able to foresee and anticipate [this wicked ardor for glory's] ill effects …, I would never have sacrificed so many men's heads to see men on their knees doing me honor.

When everyone tries to ingratiate his own faction with the prince, the result is that his favor, more than truth and expediency [vero atque vtili], determines how people advise him: and thus … drag the kingdom to ruin.

[T]hough [King Edward IV] feared nothing less than what actually happened, he foresaw that the dissension of [his sons'] friends could do them great harm, since their naturally frail and improvident youth would be stripped on its one source of strength, their friends' counsel [consiliis]. For when dissension and discord polarized the supporters, they would pay more attention to partisan interests than to stating the truth, and would advise what was pleasant, and not what was profitable, in order to advance their own faction in the favor of the prince.