On Ars iuvanda est Andrew wrote: “is this a classical quotation… to me it is simply a truism.” It’s used in a print illustrating a poet and his muse by Pieter Yver, 1738 Amsterdam (quick online search).
Proverbs do tend to be truisms, and their popularity is quite culturally specific. German speakers still use them more frequently and less ironically than English speakers: Übung macht den Meister.