Need help with these openings

I'm having problems mainly with black playing against the Four Knights opening, Scotch, and playing the Queens gambit declined as black (or any d4 d5 opening as black) and playing the Ruy lopez.
  
  I feel like can't develop an attack or an advantage over white. 
 
 Four Knights- I struggle to keep up for a draw. The opening is very symmetrical and can't generate any counterplay and thus I have to reply and overall it causes play to play very passively. Also how do I deal with the knight move na4 before I played a move to give my bishop some escape squares like a6? I gave up control of the bishop pair and my d4 control is hindered
 
QGD- This is more or so of me knowing the main goals of black while playing this. I don't when I should take on c4 and more or less my pieces sit on their same squares for a lot time. 
 
Scotch- I feel white can generate an strong attack. Also I just have poor skills of coordinating my pieces to build an attack of my own or just to outplay white 
 
Ruy lopez- I really just dont know how to coordinate my pieces to work and gain gradual pressure on the kingside and queenside. I even hate the exchange variation more. After nxe5 qd4 nc3 qxe4 qe2 1xe2 kxf2. I'm a pawn up, but I just don't know how to massage everything I have into a win....  
 
  Any help is appreciated, I can also post some games if needed 

A bunch of possibilities:

Starting Out: Open Games by GM Glenn Flear (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232452/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen134.pdf

Starting Out: Ruy Lopez by John Shaw (2003)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627024240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen53.pdf

Beating the open games, Mihail Marin

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf

A Spanish Repertoire for Black by Mihail Marin (2007)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf

The Open Games for Black by Igor Lysyj & Roman Ovetchkin (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf

The Berlin Defence by Igor Lysyj & Roman Ovetchkin (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7076.pdf

Play the Open Games as Black by John Emms

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022601/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen11.txt

The Ruy Lopez: A Guide for Black by Sverre Johnsen and Leif Johannessen (2007)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023224/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen94.pdf

Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Bologans-Black-Weapons-in-the-Open-Games-76p3873.htm

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9001.pdf

Bologan's Ruy Lopez for Black by Victor Bologan (2015)

http://www.sjakkbutikken.no/produkter/bologans-ruy-lopez-for-black/

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9016.pdf

Play 1 e4 e5! by Nigel Davies (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626201436/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen80.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627083715/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen98.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031152/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ebcafe10.pdf

The Berlin Wall by John Cox (2008)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050257/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen115.pdf

Attacking the Spanish by Sabino Brunello (2009)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Attacking_the_Spanish_excerpt.pdf

The Ruy Lopez Revisited by Ivan Sokolov (2009)

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Ruy-Lopez-Revisited-The-p3765.htm

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/931.pdf

Fighting the Ruy Lopez by Milos Pavlovic (2009)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf

Slay the Spanish by Timothy Taylor (2011)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627040230/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen146.pdf

The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White by Larry Kaufman (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626221508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen162.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/955.pdf

A Vigorous Chess Opening Repertoire for Black by Or Cohen (2013)

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Vigorous-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-for-Black-A-76p3857.htm

Grandmaster Repertoire 13 – The Open Spanish by V. Mikhalevski (2013)

http://reviews.dailychess.org/grandmaster-repertoire-13-the-open-spanish-qualitychess-by-v-mikhalevski/

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/GM13-excerpt.pdf

Anti-Spanish. The Cozio Defence by Alexey Dreev (2014)

The Petroff: Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala (2015)

A Cunning Chess Opening for Black by Sergey Kasparov (2015)

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Cunning-Chess-Opening-for-Black-A-76p3899.htm

Opening Repertoire: The Open Games with Black by Martin Lokander (2015)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7546.pdf

Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire by Nikolaos Ntirlis (2016)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7572.pdf

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Playing1e4e5-excerpt.pdf

The Spanish Main Road by Evgeny Solozhenkin (2016)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7595.pdf
The Zaitsev System by Alexey Kuzmin

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9036.pdf

The Berlin Defence Unraveled

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9048.pdf

MY SECRETS IN THE RUY LOPEZ by Lajos Portisch

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/My_Secrets_in_the_Ruy_Lopez.pdf

For the Queen's Gambit,
First Steps: The Queen's Gambit by Andrew Martin (2016)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf

or Starting Out: Queen's Gambit Declined by Neil McDonald (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627005627/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen93.pdf
might serve as a general introduction. We have often seen recommendation of the somewhat older book, Queen's Gambit Declined by Matthew Sadler (2000).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234438/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen15.txt

Declining the Queen's Gambit by John Cox (2011) "may be too complicated for players rated below 1700-1800."

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626233841/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen149.pdf

Possibly helpful for other 1 d4 d5 stuff:

Grandmaster Repertoire 11: Beating 1 d4 Sidelines by Boris Avrukh (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627001415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen164.pdf

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/GM11-1d4Sidelines-excerpt.pdf

Dealing with d4 Deviations by John Cox (2005)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627032909/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen89.pdf

Thanks, however I was looking more so of main ideas plans and strategies to deploy against opening. Also with my current rating I really don't want to plunge into too much opening study (theory)

"... Everyman Chess has started a new [(Starting Out)] series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [it] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ... " - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf

"... This book is the first volume in a series of manuals designed for players who are building the foundations of their chess knowledge. The reader will receive the necessary basic knowledge in six areas of the game - tactics, positional play, strategy, the calculation of variations, the opening and the endgame.
... To make the book entertaining and varied, I have mixed up these different areas, ..." - GM Artur Yusupov (2008)
"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)