However, I found myself in a position of borrowing my 'faith' from others, at least partially. This, I hope doesn't reflect on my lack of creativity or self-esteem.. or does it?

Nothing wrong with recognizing a good thing when you see it. As the Einstein quote on my homenode states:

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

I do disagree with the "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." quote (at least how I interpret it :). There are a lot of other systems out there, many of which are superior to the GNU system in certain aspects. Ignoring the strengths of your perceived competitors will only weaken your project in the long run.

As for a single guiding quote, I have always liked the following:

A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking. ~ Arthur Block

:)