How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Bekker #s); all Bekker line numbers are approximate, since they are keyed to the original Greek.
Quote #10
But in most cities, what concerns such things has been utterly neglected, and each lives as he wishes, 'laying down the sacred law for children and wife' in the manner of the Cyclops. The most excellent thing, then, is for the public care to be correct. But when cities utterly neglect the public care, it would seem appropriate for each individual to contribute to the virtue of his own offspring and friends, or at last to make the choice to do so. (10.9.1180a27-32)
Aristotle has a little rant at the end of Ethics concerning the creation of good citizens. He feels that it should be (or at least, has been) the concern of the political realm to enshrine and transmit principles of virtue to citizens through solid lawmaking. However, things are falling apart. In the absence of public intervention, the onus for the moral education of people falls to friends and family. Aristotle is all for that, but there is the sense that getting to what is good—either for the community or the individual—is at least partially the responsibility of the regime.