George Linnaeus Banks (March 2, 1821 — May 3, 1881), British miscellaneous writer, was born in Birmingham, England.

After a brief experience in a variety of trades, he became at the age of seventeen a contributor to various newspapers, and subsequently a playwright, being the author of two plays, a couple of burlesques and several lyrics. Between 1848 and 1864 he edited in succession a variety of newspapers, including the Birmingham Mercury and the Dublin Daily Express, and published several volumes of miscellaneous prose and verse. He died in London.

He wrote the lines:

'I live for those who love me, for those who know me true; for the heaven that smiles above me and awaits my spirit too. For the cause that lacks assistance, for the wrong that needs resistance, for the future in the distance, and the good that I can do."

This has now been adopted by the Zeta Pi Omega sorority of IIT as their creed.

1821 births | 1881 deaths | British writers