In Poker is it true that "you must give action to get action"?
What you're talking about is called Table Image.

Table image is important because it represents what other players think they know about you and how you play.  If you play very tight (very few hands, only very good cards), and players see this, they're only going to stay in the pot with you, if they also have very good cards (in which case you should be a little worried).   

It's not strictly true that you must LOSE hands (VPIP, or hands you voluntarily put into the pot), but you do need to play such that your opponents don't know what kind of cards you might have.  This may mean bluffing 10% of the time, or it could be more sophisticated, like always playing in position (when you're one of the last to bet), since then they won't know if you have good cards, or are just playing position.

In general though, if ALL you do is only bet when you have a tier 1 hand, then yes, people are just going to fold.