I bet you, Ziggie, a hundred bucks that he ain't in here.

-Dillingham, Charles
  Attributed whisper to Florenz Ziegfeld as they acted as pall-bearers at the funeral of escapologist Harry Houdini.

I hold you six to four I love you with all my heart, if I would bet with other people I'm sure I could get ten to one.

-Rochester,JohnWilmot, 2nd Earl of
c.1667  Letter from Newmarket to his wife. In The Letters ofJohn Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, edited byJeremyTreglown (1980).

An Englishman does not joke about such an important matter as a bet.

-Verne,Jules
  Around theWorld in Eighty Days.