This study aims to expand and enrich the research on the social gap regarding wind power development. We look into reasons for the malaise that people experience when confronted with wind power projects and propose that aspects of the Romantic era still prevail in and influence how humans relate to the world today. We show that the human relation to nature and technology is influenced by Romanticism providing one additional explanation for the social acceptance of wind power that has not yet been addressed in research. This is researched through a qualitative, exploratory multiple-case design that focuses on exploring personal stories and emotions about people’s relation to nature, technology and wind power. This resulted in the discovery of several paradoxes in people’s thinking, a nature paradox and a technology paradox which meet in the wind power debate. Our findings indicate that the malaise around wind power can be further understood by these paradoxes. Ultimately, people’s final decision on accepting wind power comes down to Romantic thinking versus Enlightenment thinking, in which the latter dominates.