Full Idea
Time is the measure of change, and it makes no sense to speak of how things were before there was anything that changed.
Gist of Idea
Time is the measure of change, so we can't speak of time before all change
Source
Michael Dummett (Thought and Reality [1997], 8)
Book Reference
Dummett,Michael: 'Thought and Reality (Gifford Lectures)' [OUP 2006], p.104
A Reaction
Something creating its own measure sounds like me marking my own exam papers. If an object appears, then inverts five seconds later, how can the inversion create the five seconds? How does that differ from inverting ten seconds later?