从来
cónglái
Flip back through every day and the column is blank
The picture A register flipped through from the first page to the last with not a single box filled in. 从来 is a past with not one dot in it; 一直 is that same stretch with an unbroken line.
Where the picture shows up in 从来
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the drink column is blank
我从来不喝酒。
wǒ cóng lái bù hē jiǔ
I do not drink, never have.
A glass turned upside down, a flat palm raised toward the approaching bottle
Habits take 不; experience takes 没.
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the visit column is blank
他从来没来过我家。
tā cóng lái méi lái guo wǒ jiā
He has never once been to my home.
A shoe rack by the door with one empty slot his shoes have never filled
It pairs with 没…过.
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the breakdown column is blank
这台机器从来没坏过。
zhè tái jī qì cóng lái méi huài guo
This machine has never broken down.
A finger running down an inspection sheet where every repair box is empty
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the lateness column is blank
我从来不迟到，今天是例外。
wǒ cóng lái bù chí dào, jīn tiān shì lì wài
I am never late — today is the exception.
Holding out a timesheet and pointing at a row of stamps with no gaps in it
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the permission column is blank
妈妈从来不让我吃冷的东西。
mā ma cóng lái bú ràng wǒ chī lěng de dōng xi
Mum never let me eat cold things.
A mother's hand reaching the fridge door first, every single time
Before 让 it becomes 'never once allowed'.
All of it in one picture
从来 is a ledger blank from the first page to the last. A blank drink column makes you someone who does not drink; a blank visit column makes him someone who has never come. A blank breakdown column becomes a boast about the machine; a blank lateness column becomes the ground you stand on to call today an exception; a blank permission column becomes the mother who always said no. That is why 不 or 没 always follows.