diff --git a/libinterp/corefcn/interpreter.cc b/libinterp/corefcn/interpreter.cc
--- a/libinterp/corefcn/interpreter.cc
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/interpreter.cc
@@ -322,14 +322,18 @@ safe_source_file (const std::string& fil
     {
       octave::source_file (file_name, context, verbose, require_file, warn_for);
     }
-  catch (const octave::interrupt_exception&)
+  catch (const octave::exit_exception&)
     {
-      octave::interpreter::recover_from_exception ();
+      // Catch and rethrow otherwise the (...) case will prevent
+      // us from exiting.
 
-      return 1;
+      throw;
     }
-  catch (const octave::execution_exception&)
+  catch (...)
     {
+      // Should we have special cases for classes of exceptions that we
+      // know about?  What would we do differently in those cases?
+
       octave::interpreter::recover_from_exception ();
 
       return 1;
@@ -349,12 +353,18 @@ execute_pkg_add (const std::string& dir)
     {
       lp.execute_pkg_add (dir);
     }
-  catch (const octave::interrupt_exception&)
+  catch (const octave::exit_exception&)
     {
-      octave::interpreter::recover_from_exception ();
+      // Catch and rethrow otherwise the (...) case will prevent
+      // us from exiting.
+
+      throw;
     }
-  catch (const octave::execution_exception&)
+  catch (...)
     {
+      // Should we have special cases for classes of exceptions that we
+      // know about?  What would we do differently in those cases?
+
       octave::interpreter::recover_from_exception ();
     }
 }
@@ -835,6 +845,12 @@ namespace octave
 
         return 1;
       }
+    catch (const std::exception&)
+      {
+        recover_from_exception ();
+
+        return 1;
+      }
 
     return parse_status;
   }
@@ -997,6 +1013,13 @@ namespace octave
                 break;
               }
           }
+        catch (const octave::exit_exception&)
+          {
+            // Catch and rethrow otherwise the (...) case will prevent
+            // us from exiting.
+
+            throw;
+          }
         catch (const std::bad_alloc&)
           {
             recover_from_exception ();
@@ -1004,6 +1027,26 @@ namespace octave
             std::cerr << "error: out of memory -- trying to return to prompt"
                       << std::endl;
           }
+        catch (const std::exception& e)
+          {
+            recover_from_exception ();
+
+            const char *msg = e.what ();
+
+            if (msg)
+              {
+                std::cerr << "error: caught std::exception: " << msg
+                          << std::endl;
+                std::cerr << "error: trying to return to prompt" << std::endl;
+              }
+          }
+        catch (...)
+          {
+            recover_from_exception ();
+
+            std::cerr << "error: caught unknown exception -- trying to return to prompt"
+                      << std::endl;
+          }
 
 #if defined (DBSTOP_NANINF)
         if (Vdebug_on_naninf)
@@ -1056,7 +1099,7 @@ namespace octave
       OCTAVE_IGNORE_EXCEPTION (const octave::exit_exception&)           \
       OCTAVE_IGNORE_EXCEPTION (const octave::interrupt_exception&)      \
       OCTAVE_IGNORE_EXCEPTION (const octave::execution_exception&)      \
-      OCTAVE_IGNORE_EXCEPTION (const std::bad_alloc&)                   \
+      OCTAVE_IGNORE_EXCEPTION (const std::exception&)                   \
     }                                                                   \
   while (0)