从/离
cóng / lí
从 is where the line starts; 离 is the gap between two dots
The picture 从 marks the dot a line sets off from. 离 marks the empty space measured between two dots that both stay put. 从 marks where a line starts and 到 marks where it ends, which is why they pair up in 从九点到六点. 离 never draws that line at all; it only measures the space in between.
Where the picture shows up in 从/离
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the dot the line leaves
我从北京来。
wǒ cóng Běijīng lái
I'm from Beijing.
A pin going into Beijing on the map and a line drawn out from it
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the gap between two dots
我家离公司很近。
wǒ jiā lí gōngsī hěn jìn
My place is close to the office.
A dot for home and a dot for the office, with a tape measure stretched between them
离 is followed by distance words like 远, 近, 多远 — never by a verb of motion.
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the point time starts at
从九点到六点一直在开会。
cóng jiǔ diǎn dào liù diǎn yìzhí zài kāihuì
I was in meetings from nine right through to six.
Pen on the nine o'clock row of the schedule, ruling a line all the way down to six
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the gap still left
离下班还有一个小时。
lí xiàbān hái yǒu yí ge xiǎoshí
There's still an hour to go before we finish.
A finger on the squares left before clocking-off time, measuring out an hour's worth of gap
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where the route begins
从这儿一直走就到了。
cóng zhèr yìzhí zǒu jiù dào le
Keep going straight from here and you're there.
Toeing the spot you're standing on and pointing along the road that runs on from it
Came from home is 从家来; far from home is 离家远. Same English word, different picture.
All of it in one picture
Saying you're from Beijing pins the dot the line leaves — that is 从 — and from nine o'clock drops the same pin onto a clock. Straight on from here pins the spot the route begins at, 从 once more. But your place being close to the office and an hour still to go leave both dots where they are and only stretch a tape between them: that is 离. What follows 从 is a moving line; what follows 离 is a reading — far, near, an hour left.