I am, admittedly, one of those strange individuals whom actually enjoys reading Shakespeare's works, perhaps because I understand the words or look for definitions/explanations when I don't. (Look upon his works, ye mighty, and despair.) I read his plays and sonnets for leisure (particularly when the power goes off and I have to resort to books in dead tree format). Not infrequently, I gain some amusement from them, particularly when I encounter an idiom or phrase in common usage in current English (including as titles of films or literary works). Here, then, are a number of them (with the source, whenever possible):

• A Heart of Gold: "The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold, a lad of life, an imp of fame, of parents good, of fist most valiant." – Henry V (Act 4, Scene 1)
• Kill with Kindness: "This is a way to kill a wife with kindness, and thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor." – The Taming of the Shrew
• Laughing Stock: "Pray you, let us not be laughing-stocks to other men's humours; I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends." – The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Wild-Goose Chase: "Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five." – Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 4)
• Green-Eyed Monster: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on." – Othello
• Lie Low: "If he could right himself with quarreling, some of us would lie low." – Much Ado About Nothing or As You Like It
• What Dreams May Come (film starring Robin Williams, about a man who dies in an accident and his wife commits suicide): "To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause..." – Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1)
• Shuffle off one's Mortal Coil: – Ibid
• North By North-West (old film starring Humphrey Bogart): "I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw [originally hernshaw; heron]." – Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2)
• A Pound of Flesh: "Be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me." – The Merchant of Venice
• All that Glistens/Glitters is Not Gold: "There is a written scroll. I’ll read the writing. All that glistens is not gold. Often have you heard that told?" – Ibid (Act 2, Scene 7)
• Elbow-Room: "Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room; It would not out at windows nor at doors." – King John (Act 5, Scene 7)
• It’s Greek to Me: "For mine own part, it was Greek to me." – Julius Caesar (Act 1, Scene 2)
• Faint-Hearted: "Faint-hearted Woodvile, prizèst him 'fore me? Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate, whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?" – Henry VI

There are many more (one of my sources lists nineteen), but I think that's enough for you to get the picture and my point.

I knew that the source for some of those was Shakespeare, but in compiling the list, I found many for which the source is/was Shakespeare, previously unknown to me, thanks to having not yet consumed all his output. (However, he may well have borrowed some of them, such as "cold comfort", from contemporaries and predecessors, just as I have with "colossal shitgibbon", "cockwomble","douche armada", "fuckweasel" and "titanic shitbird"; "jizz wicket" is all my own). Like me, you've probably read/seen or used one of those without realising it's one of Shakespeare's. It's not exactly surprising, since he had a massive influence on the English language, indeed invented a lot of it. Now, don't tell me that you don't understand Shakespearean language when you speak and/or write it without realising that. Besides, with books like The Annotated Shakespeare and Websites like No Sweat Shakespeare, you really have no excuse for avoiding The Bard's collected works just because some of the words aren't familiar.

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