Nope.

Different situations have different answers. We don't live in a world of absolutes.

Here are a few that are generally the difference between slow and fast:

Avoid cursors

Don't use cursors

Use something other than cursors (Could just repeat variations on that for the next ten lines, but I think I've made my point)

Index appropriately, including the clustered index

Assign the primary key appropriately

Normalize for OLTP

Denormalize appropriately for OLAP

Don't mix OLTP and OLAP in the same tables

Use appropriate data types and avoid implicit conversions

Use SARGable arguments in your Where and Join clauses

Avoid UDFs

Keep Views simple and to the point, no excess joins nor columns

Know the differences between CTEs/Derived Tables, Temp Tables, and Table Variables and use them appropriately

Constraints can help the execution plan engine, so use them where appropriate

Understand parameter sniffing and the steps to handle it

Understand the benefits and drawbacks to both horizontal and vertical table partitioning

Avoid complex triggers

Those are the top ones that come to my mind as general rules for a performant database. Every one of them, even the cursors curse, has exceptions. This leads to the

ONE TRUE RULE FOR A PERFORMANT DATABASE:

Understand what you're doing when you design, build and code!