Not true. If you don't catch an exception, you're automatically saying that it's a problem you can't fix, and your program will be terminated. If you fail to check return codes, then your program tries to keep running in a broken state.
The difference is that running in an unknown/broken state is the default when using error codes. Getting into such a state with exception handling typically requires explicit programmer action, such as the "catch everything and ignore it" pattern.
