Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician

(Attributed)

The earliest reference to this translation I find, with no citation, is in Maturin Ballou, Edge-Tools of Speech (1886). Nineteenth Century books of quotations such as this often paraphrase passages, especially in translation, so it is altogether possible this particular wording was crafted by Ballou.