Not true. That is what Abraham Maslow spent his life trying to tell us. People have needs. Physiological ones (air, water), and also psychological ones (challenges, self-esteem).

Therefore, we can know a want from a need because a need is anything that if you were to go without it, would result in your death or stunted growth.

This piece, like Walden, is about how we can trade what we have mistaken for physiological needs for legitimate psychological needs.