'Reputation' or 'A reputation'? 'It takes a lifetime to build a reputation.'

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if the red 'a' in the following sentence is required or not? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

'It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a second to break it.'

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

You should use 'a' and also add 'good' since a reputation can be bad just as easily as it can be good. Instead of 'break' I might use 'destroy':

"It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation and a second to destroy it."

Amy

[Jamie (K)]

In a sentence like that, it's clear that people are talking about a good reputation, so frequently we don't use the word "good" in such a context. I have seen the idiom "to break someone's reputation" many times, and I don't have a problem with it.

You do need the article, though.