Is it correct to say "People resist to learn new things."? By saying so, I intend to convey that most of us are not willing to learn new things. Also, which one of the following do you think is better.
Resist is fine.
Other than grammatical/ semantic issues in the sentence, the idea that people resist change itself is an established one and you are on firm ground. See: 1.Wiki: Change Management 2.Google 3.UWisconsin
Note that it would be learning, not to learn:
People resist learning new things. -- sounds good.
People offer resistance to learning new things.
...
You could use the word in question if you meant they were opposed to learning, which is not the case I believe. I think the word you are looking for is more like reluctant or unwilling.
People are reluctant to learn new things.
They are usually reluctant to try new things.
They are unwilling to take part in the election.
You could use resist in a context like the following:
They will continue to resist changes to the treaty, etc, etc.
Aside from the matter of using learning rather than to learn, both are fine. I'd say that offering resistance has overtones of civil unrest or mass protest, which might make it more suitable for an ironic tone and less generally applicable than the simple use of the verb in your first example.
