Based on Matti Kuusi’s library of proverb collections, the Matti Kuusi International Database of Proverbs is designed for cultural researchers, translators, and proverb enthusiasts. Kuusi compiled a card-index with tens of thousands of references to synonymic proverbs. The database is a tool for studying global similarities and national specificities of proverbs. This essay offers a practical introduction to the database, its classification system, and describes future plans for improvement of the database.