Historical figures whom the Swami admired

Chatrapati Sivaji
One day it was Sivaji and the Marathas and the year's wandering as a Sanyasin,
that won him home to Raigarh. "And to this day" said the Swami,(June,1898)
"authority in India dreads the Sannyasin, lest he conceal beneath his yellow garb
another Sivaji."
- Sister Nivedita (Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda)
The Echoes of Teachings of Swami Vivekananda by Dr. M.C. Nanjunda Rao
(An evening talk on Sivaji)

Source

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586): English poet, soldier and politician.

As I grow older I find that I look more and more for greatness in little things. I want
to know what a great man eats and wears, and how he speaks to his servants. I
want to find a Sir Philip Sidney greatness! Few men would remember the thirst of
others, even in the moment of death. -- Swami Vivekananda.

Source

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

(Swami Vivekananda) "pointed out three things as the dominant notes of (Ram
Mohun Roy) message: his acceptance of the Vedanta, his preaching of patriotism,
and the love that embraced the Mussulman equally with the Hindu.

"In all these things, he (Vivekananda) claimed himself to have taken up the task
that the breadth and foresight of Ram Mohun Roy had mapped out."

(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita)

Source
Giuseppe Mazzini
Italy: "greatest of the countries of Europe, land of religion and of art; alike of
imperial organization and of Mazzini ;mother of ideas, of culture, and of freedom !
(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita)

Giuseppe Mazzini (June 22, 1805 March 10, 1872) was an Italian patriot,
philosopher and politician. Mazzini's efforts helped bring about the modern Italian
state in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers,

that existed until the nineteenth century. He also helped define the modern
European movement for popular Democracy in a Republican State.

Source
David Hare

Sister Nivedita wrote "(Along) with (Vidyasagar) as one of the educators of Bengal,
the Swami coupled the name of David Hare, the old Scotsman and atheist to whom
the clergy of Calcutta refused Christian burial. He had died of nursing an old pupil
through cholera. So his own boys carried his dead body and buried it in a swamp,

and made the grave a place of pilgrimage. That place has now become College
Square, the educational centre and his school is now within the University. And to
this day, Calcutta students make pilgrimage to the tomb."

(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita)

Genghis Khan

Vivekananda said (1898), "You hear people talk of him as a vulgar aggressor but
that is not true! They are never greedy or vulgar, these great souls ! He was
inspired with the thought -of unity, and he wanted to unify his world."
(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita )

Source
Chandragupta Maurya

Source
Gautama Buddha
Sister Nivedita wrote of the Swami and Buddha...

Source
That was a great hour indeed, when he spoke of Buddha; for, catching a word that
seemed to identify him with its anti-Brahminical spirit, an uncomprehending listener
said, "Why Swami, I did not know that you were a Buddhist!"

"'Madam," he said rounding on her, his whole face aglow with the inspiration of that
name, "I am the servant of the servants of the servants of Buddha. Who was there
ever like Him?the Lordwho never performed one action for Himselfwith a heart
that embraced the whole world ! So full of pity that Heprince and monkwould
give his life to save a little goat! So loving that He sacrificed himself to the hunger
of a tigress!to the hospitality of a pariah and blessed him. And He came into my
room when I was a boy and I fell at His feet ! For I knew it was the Lord Himself!"

Many times he spoke of Buddha in this fashion, sometimes at Belur and sometimes
afterwards.

(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita)