In Ch. 41, John takes it upon himself to tell Elinor that her marriage to Edward would have been far preferable to Mrs. Ferrars and it would not have given her half the vexation that his marriage to Lucy does. John says: "I was exceedingly pleased to hear that Mrs. Ferrars considered it in that light -- a very gratifying circumstance, you know, to us all. 'It would have been beyond comparison,' she said, 'the least evil of the two, and she would be glad to compound now for nothing worse."

Out of all the blockheaded things that John has said and done so far, I think this must be the worst! How could it possibly please Elinor (as he says) or give her comfort to think that now Mrs. Ferrars would prefer to see her married to Edward than Lucy?

Here's another prize John Dashwood remark from the same chapter:
"Well, I am convinced that there is a vast deal of inconsistency in almost every human character. "

He blunders around so much with his sisters that I wonder if he must always be this much of a dolt with everyone he knows? Maybe this is the reason he is so solicitous to Fanny--because he's always putting his foot in it somehow.

Another thing that irritates me about him is the way he treats Edward and Elinor's mutual feelings towards each other as something unmentionable with remarks like "--a certain connection--you understand me" and "all that is quite out of the question--not to be thought of or mentioned".